Gamaliel's Desk

Religious Clothing

2009-01-17T13:49:00.000-05:00

It's nice to finally see someone who gets it.

A New Law

2009-01-02T11:32:00.003-05:00

Derek Webb wrote a song some time back and apparently some folks on YouTube have posted a video about it. It is the best expression of what I think good Pharisees are doing their best to accomplish with their ministry efforts. See it for yourself:

Blame Where It Belongs

2008-06-12T21:11:00.002-05:00

I had a young man try to upbraid me for preaching on the need for women to dress modestly. He said that the real problem is not that women dress immodestly, but that men are prone to lust. He asked why I did not preach against the lust that burns within man rather than the dress of women who are the victims and objects of the lustful intentions of wicked men.

I told him that on many other occasions I preached about lust and that it wasn't the subject of that message to upbraid men. It was the purpose of that message to encourage our young women to dress modestly. However, I wish I had known about this video before I answered him. I would have directed him to this wonderful quote by Richard Baxter found in this video:

It's such a shame that we have left the spiritual depth of the 1950s and succumbed to the lures of the 2000's.

The New Christians?

2008-05-12T18:51:00.002-05:00

Tony Jones, coordinator for that hotbed of apostasy, Emergent Village, has written a new book called The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier. Let me just say I have already “dispatched” this book. No, I have not read it , nor am I ever likely to. I was so put off by Jones’ blog and his contributions to the Emergent Village web sit that I can pretty much tell you what this blasphemous book is all about. But why take my word for it? Jones has created a series of videos about one of the characters in his book called “Trucker Frank.” I started watching it and about half way though, I was so put off by the vile gutter language I couldn’t bear to watch any more. See for yourself (but be warned, this gets EXTEMELY offensive toward the middle):

Clearly, Jones is unconcerned about living a life according to godly standards. His casual use of such crude language is evidence that he has no regard for holiness and least of all with respect to the work of God. For him and Trucker Frank to insinuate that the Bible, God’s Holy Word, contains the coarse language of the streets, is an offense to the host of Heaven and all who love the pure unadulterated Truth. I don’t care what Trucker Frank says the Greek word skubalon meant in the “original” language, he is obviously no Greek scholar. I will remain content with the King James word, “dung” instead of what they use.

Some will argue that the Bible is full of bad words like “damn” and “hell” and even “bastard.” And indeed it does contain these words. However, what these mindless critics don’t realize is that these so-called bad words were sanctified and holy language at the time God verbally inspired the King James Bible. It is only through the grossest misuse by worldlings that these holy words - still uttered from my pulpit, by the way, in a godly context - have become bad words. Friends, these word’s are God-ordained and holy words that have only become perverted by their misuse outside of a godly context. If people in the world were concerned about their souls and discussing the certain damnation that faced them in a Devil’s hell, as the bastard offspring, then I would have no trouble with them using this sanctified language. But no, they have even gone so far as to take the name of our Lord in vain and turn the name of our Blessed Savior Jesus Christ into an occasion of cursing.

Nor are these the only Bible words being misused and abused. There has been a recent surge in trying to convert a perfectly good King James Bible word to the same level of crudity as other gutter words. I praise the Lord that there are still Bible believing preachers willing to stand against this trend and stand up for God’s word. We need more voices from the pulpit proclaiming the Truth of God’s Word unashamedly and boldly like this fellow:

Ten CCM Commandments

2008-03-24T15:15:00.003-05:00

A friend of mine put me on to this great site. I wasn't able to read all the way to the end, but found this most helpful for Christians wanting to practice musical discernment.

http://ccmworld.org/tencommandments.htm

G

Seven Steps to Spiritual Unity

2008-03-24T13:19:00.007-05:00

That great compromiser of the faith, Rick Warren, continues to corrupt the minds of godly ministers everywhere. In a recent Ministry Toolbox issue, he offered six things to do when disunity threatens to divide a church. Before I go any further, let me just point out that everyone knows that according to biblical numerology 6 is the number of man. Man was created on the sixth day and the mark of The Beast is an unholy trinity of 666. This is indication enough that Warren’s “wisdom” is man’s wisdom rather than God’s wisdom. Had it been godly wisdom, he would have had seven things since 7 is the number of God’s completeness.

With that in mind, I would like to offer SEVEN things you should do to promote genuine unity, rather than the feel-good, namby-pamby sort of compromising conciliatory concessions Warren offers to preserve pseudo-unity.

1. Create situations that lead to arguments. In the song “Onward Christian Soldiers” (which is pretty much absent from contemporary worship services) the verse instructs us that we are “one in hope and doctrine, one in purity.” Without a good argument every now and then, how do you know that everyone holds to the truth? Arguments are a good way to identify those possessed of a rebellious spirit so they can be publicly rebuked

2. Show troublemakers the door. Warren advocates convincing them to repent. The trouble is, how do you distinguish between sincere repentance and those who repent falsely so that they can later undermine your ministry from within? Simply put, you can’t. The best thing to do is to make sure troublemakers don’t stay. Even those who sincerely repent have a track record of causing trouble and there’s no guarantee that they won’t cause trouble about something else in the future. Best to be rid of them altogether.

3. Convince people not to be so sensitive. The Truth is offensive. The natural man does not receive the spirit of God. People who are offended by comments made for their spiritual edification need to learn to suck it up and take it in the spirit it is intended. After all, we are those who watch out for their souls, not their feelings.

4. Demand conformity and agreement. Amos asks, “how can two walk together except they be agreed?” People who don’t agree with us need to be brought around to our way of thinking through persuasion and church discipline, even if that means getting a little rough from time to time.

5. Rebuke without regard to the consequences. You are the pastor. It is your job to take a stand for the truth. Don’t let the opposition spot weakness or compromise or you will soon find you have no power at all over them.

6. Remove them at the first sign of trouble. Warren advocates a “two strikes, your out” sort of rule. A lot of damage can be caused during those “two strikes.” If we waited through two warnings before ejecting heretics, trouble causers, and malcontents, our churches would be full of these folks. The Bible says that, “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” (Ecclesiastes 8:11) We need to follow the biblical admonition to execute sentence speedily before we give them any warning.

7. Don’t listen to Rick Warren. His popular book, The Purpose Driven Church, is all about how to grow a big church by whatever means. It has nothing to do with pleasing God. Everyone knows that godly spiritual churches are small because men don’t love The Truth and The Truth is not popular. Warren’s popularity is proof that he is not teaching The Truth.

In a nutshell, the key to unity in God’s church is to make sure no one has the opportunity to dissent. And if someone tries to disrupt the unity of the Body, we are not to offer compromising solutions like Warren does, but to get tough, lay down the law, and never sacrifice Truth on the altar of unscriptural unity.

Why Schools Go Apostate

2008-02-11T10:30:00.002-05:00

My heart breaks when I see the pernicious infective force of apostasy taking over our formerly fundamentalist Pharisaical institutions of higher learning. Everyone knows that Princeton, Harvard, and Yale all began as seminaries but were contaminated by the liberalizing forces of modernism and apostasy, until now they are blasphemers of the God they once used to proclaim. But what of more recent slides to apostasy? We have all seen how schools like Baylor and Wake Forest and Southern Methodist University have all embraced liberalism, but what of formerly staunch schools like Liberty, Cedarville, and Bob Jones University? Is there any hope for them? Thanks to Dr. Don Jasmin’s new book, Why Do Fundamental Schools Go Apostate, we now have an answer.

And it’s not good.

While Jasmin focus his attention on the Northfield-Mount Hermon school established by that great paragon or preachers Dwight L. Moody, the lessons are no less ominous for any school wanting to stand firm on its fundamentalist foundation. Despite the fact that Moody was a marvelous example of evangelizing zeal, his legacy suffered from the little compromises he allowed to creep into his ministry. Some of the flaws Jasmin cites in his book include:

Moody ignored the emerging controversies of his day such as the new teaching of evolution and higher criticism.
Moody refused to condemn the compromisers of his day.
Moody preached only a positive message of God’s grace and love, neglecting the important negatives of God’s word.
The school suffered a loss of spiritual discernment after Moody’s death and focused its attention on academic pursuits rather than spiritual ones.
The school sought accreditation and academic respectability at the expense of its hold on The Truth.

The warnings for us are very clear. Fundamentalist schools of today should embark on a three step program I would like to outline here in order to prevent the slide into apostasy and to preserve their purity.

Stamp out the spirit of compromise with unrelenting vigor. Even if you find yourself standing alone for The Truth, it is essential that you take a stand. For example, in our city, as large as it is, we are the only church that stands for the whole Truth of God’s word. In fact, in our whole state, we are the last bastion fighting the rising tide of compromise, neo-evangelicalism, and caving in to worldly standards. Even though the prospects for the Pharisee denomination look grim with only a handful of churches in the whole country holding out for The Truth, we believe that God is faithful and will reward us for our unwillingness to bend even the slightest inch in compromising the word of God or permitting compromisers to remain members of our denomination.

Place an appropriate Biblical emphasis on the negatives. Joel Osteen and Rick Warren can build their huge megachurches on the power of positive preaching, never speaking out against sin or doctrinal error, but that is the surest way to apostasy. Some would say that Pharisee churches need a proper balance of positive and negative messages. It is my heartfelt conviction and understanding that preaching a message composed solely of godly, biblical negatives will result in strong positives. The emphasis on all the things we are against, whether it be doctrinal errors of even the slightest type or a willingness to allow worldly standards of dress or conduct to invade the lives of otherwise pious believers, guarantees that everything that is left is positive and will be incorporated into the spiritual lives of saints.

Shun the pursuit of academic excellence. Every single formerly fundamentalist school that has ever sought some form of respectability through accreditation has invariably compromised the faith to get it. They were willing to sell out the purity of The Truth for the favor of the world. We are living in a day and age where we are watching formerly fundamentalist schools like Cedarville University, Liberty University, and Bob Jones University sell out in order to curry favor with the academic community. I am convinced that academic rigor actually causes apostasy. It is better to pursue a thorough knowledge of God and His Truth than it is to pursue an understanding of the world in which we live. After all, this world is not our home, we are only passing through. Of what use is more thorough knowledge of a place that God is going to destroy in fiery judgments anyway?

In essence, the key to maintaining a fundamentalist Pharisee outlook on life is to remain ignorant. What some would call academic excellence or eduction is nothing more than worldly wisdom. It is only human pride that takes umbrage at being called ignorant and unlearned by the worldly-wise. Like the apostle Paul, we should count a worldly education as nothing but dung and make ourselves fools for Christ’s sake. This means we do not trust secularized, compromising institutions of higher learning to educate ourselves and our children. We only trust to our non-accredited Pharisee Bible Colleges and seminaries to do that for us. And if Jasmin’s warning holds true, not even all of them can be trusted.

The Dangers of Cell Phones

2007-06-29T19:35:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine, pastor Alex Coppersmith at First Pharisee Church, sent me a link to a great article by David Cloud titled, “MySpace or Gods?” It was a wonderful piece that was full of good advice and sound Bible teaching. It warned Christian parents against the dangers of MySpace, a social networking site, often frequented by church teens. Even though Bro. Cloud has done a masterful job exposing the dangers of MySpace, he is apparently blind to an even more insidious danger in our midst - cell phones. Not one single teen in our church is on MySpace (I know because I checked just to make sure) but every single one of them has a cell phone. Following David Cloud’s outline, I would like to give voice to the enormous danger our children face by having unfettered access to cell phones.

WHAT IS A CELL PHONE?

In the year 2000, a youth pastor in Ohio told me that the worst problems he was having with young people in the church pertained to the internet. He was referring to chat rooms. And that was long before cell phones exploded onto the scene. Cell phones are nothing more than a MASSIVE, SUPERCHARGED, VISUALLY-ENHANCED CHAT ROOM. Never has strict separation from the world been more urgent for Christian homes and churches, and never has it been less practiced among those who claim to be Bible-believing people. We are in an awful, desperate battle for the souls of young people, and churches and families that do not get serious about this battle will surely regret it.

Cell phones are “social networking” tools. They provide a meeting place, a dating connection, a chat room, an instant message service, a place to talk or text message about your life and opinions, a place to download musical ringtones (it is a form of distribution for godless rock music), a place to share your personal information, photos, videos, and music clips, and a way to link to your friends’ cell phones through sharing of “contacts.” (I remember as a youngster attending Grace Pharisee Bible College that “contact” between fellow students was something to be discouraged, not encouraged.) It allows people to sign up for accounts wherein they create their own personal “desktops” and answering messages on their phones so they can associate with others. Cell phone users can post messages and pictures to one another’s phones. It’s vast online community. It’s a cyber youth hangout. It’s a virtual publishing house for private expression. And they’re super cool.

I need to say here that cell phones are used for more than a youth chat room and dating service. They are used for business purposes, for example, such as calling clients and for job seekers; but the part we are concerned about in this report is the social and moral aspect of cell phones.

WHO OWNS CELL PHONES?

Cell phones are powered by advertising and it is big business. As we know, Big Business and Madison Avenue are evil entities driven entirely by consumerist greed. Large companies like Verizon, Nextel, Cingular, and AT&T are the ones who profit from the exploitation of our nation’s youth.

THE SECRET ASPECT OF CELL PHONES

One reader wrote the following perceptive note:

“What cell phones allows people to do is become whatever they want or whoever they want. They create a personna that may be nothing like them (except in their fantasies). Most young people give up on those fantasies when they come to Christ, but by being given the opportunity to become something they are not, and it being in private, there are some devastating results and they are put into incredibly risky situations.”

Alex Coppershmith warns:

“The sweetest savor to a sinner’s mouth, are secret sins that won’t be found out. It used to be easier to catch your kids in sin. If you thought they had a problem with music, pornography, or language you could (as good parents should) look under the mattress, in the closet, in their car, or listen in on the other line or from the other room. (My parents probably did all these things and I am extremely grateful.) But in the late 90’s and even earlier this century, many parents got a wake up call as many teenagers turned to the internet to fulfill the lust of the flesh through porn, music, and chatting online. So the education began and many parents learned to check the computer’s ‘History’ and ‘Cookies.’ Good parents still found a way to track their teens. As the old adage goes, you can make a better mouse trap, but the world will always make a smarter mouse. Welcome to a parents worst nightmare: cell phones. It is possible to create a profile, add a vile ringtone, take digital photographs of yourself and share them with other cell phone users or even post them to the internet, and walk away from the phone without any evidence that you were ever there. Our kids now know about ‘history’ and ‘cookies.’ If you think they don’t, I now laugh at you and shake my head at your ignorance. Anything teens are able to keep from their parents will grow more and more out of control.”

TRASHY CONTENT AND SPIRITUAL DANGER

Even those who are not Bible believers see the moral danger of cell phones. Many articles have appeared in secular publications including this quote:

“I’ve covered murders, grisly accidents, airplanes falling out of the sky and, occasionally, dirty politics. But in nearly two decades of journalism, nothing has made my insides churn like seeing what my 13-year-old daughter and her friends are up to on their cell phones.”

Such a statement should make Bible-believing parents sit up and pay attention.

The author spoke of the shockingly open talk about immoral acts and the “coarse language and often profane messages that are plastered all over the text messages like graffiti on bathroom walls.”

Bro. Coppersmith further warns about the trashy music ringtones that is prevalent on cell phones: “From Screamo to Punk, from Dead Metal to Verbally Pornographic Rap. You can find it all on cell phones. Not to mention it is extremely easy to download music to your voice mail as a background so that whoever calls you will automatically be connected to the music if you don’t answer. With the background music setting you have about one second after you connect to the person’s voice mail to hit the mute button or be prepared to expose yourself to whatever they deem appropriate.”

One deeply concerned pastor wrote the following sad testimony:

“We had a business meeting to place three young men on church discipline because they refused to change their ringtones. They had built their own networks proclaiming themselves to be Christian but having rock and roll and even rap as background music for their voice mail. There were almost totally naked women pictured either as backgrounds or as ‘friends’ who had sent their photos, shot with their own cell phone cameras. There were four letter words of the foulest nature found in text messages. There were married men carrying on conversations with other women, some of whom were former girlfriends. Some of them even discussed meeting for lunches. Most of them carried on conversations with former backslidden members as well and hurt the name of the church as well as the cause of Christ. I cannot believe that those who claim the name of the Lord could not see or want to see the evil of cell phones. Sad to say, all three men who would not repent grew up in good godly homes and went to our church school. On a better side, three people have given up their cell phones. They have chosen the right path. AMEN!”

WHERE ARE THE PARENTS?

When you read about Christian young people getting wrapped up in their cell phones and other morally dangerous things, you wonder immediately, “Where are the parents?” Why aren’t they overseeing their children’s lives and protecting them from the devil? Being the parent of godly children, I know how easy it is to get wrapped up in other things and not to have a close enough handle on what your children are doing, how easy it is to let the flesh have its way in the home so that you are not the example you should be or have the spiritual power that you should have; but we must pay any price to save our children and grandchildren from Satan’s snare.

Many of those who replied to my request for feedback on cell phones made a point about parental oversight. Following are some examples:

“Personally I believe that too many parents are living in carnality so that they themselves don’t see the damage that cell phones do.”

“How stupid does a parent have to be to just let their kid have free reign on the cell phone?”

“I think this is the important point in all of this. Our nation is full of clueless parents -- even amongst Christian families. The cell phone itself may not be evil, but it is too easy to exploit for evil purposes. And too many parents choose to remain ignorant about how their kids are using them, or they are misusing cell phones themselves and their guilt prevents them from speaking up.”

“I keep asking myself if parents are blind. Are youth pastors and pastors so out of touch with the pop culture and the technological activities of their teenagers? How many parents are sanctioning these things and excusing this rebellion as a “phase” or typical teen behavior?”

AN ALTERNATIVE TO CELL PHONES

After Bro. Coppersmith determined that cell phones would have to go, he gave his daughter the following alternative - a cordless land line phone. In my estimation, this is not a good alternative because conventional phones have the same danger as cell phones and kids with access to conventional phones can still call kids who have cell phones. If they have access to e-mail, they can still send and receive text messages.

The best option, in my estimation, is to stay away from the “social networking” “chat room hang out” internet sites altogether. What is wrong with e-mail and SMS and instant messaging? They are generally a waste of time and allow access to evil in electronic form. In fact, young people don’t need to spend inordinate amounts of time with people their own age. A young person with other young people is simply the immature and inexperienced and unwise encouraging others of like caliber. Young people need to spend more time with adults than with young people.

To that end, I made sure that my children got rid of all their cell phones and I installed good old fashioned telegraph machines. My children are now learning Morse Code and are only able to contact other godly people who have telegraphs. From now on there will be no more ungodly rock music or video messaging in our house.

You Might Be A Pharisee If...

2007-03-25T22:39:00.000-05:00

(With apologies to Jeff Foxworthy)

If you missed a family reunion or a funeral of a close friend because you didn’t want to miss the midweek service…you might be a Pharisee.

If you ever worried about whether or not you should read the italicized words in you King James Bible because they weren’t in the original text …you might be a Pharisee.

If you ever gave your pastor a doctor’s excuse for missing a Sunday evening service …you might be a Pharisee.

If you ever tried to exchange your bratwurst for an Italian sausage because you found out they were beer brats …you might be a Pharisee.

If you say grace before in-between-meal snacks …you might be a Pharisee.

If you won’t let your kids read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe because there is a witch in the book …you might be a Pharisee.

If you object to the new church hymnals because they have “contemporary” songs from the likes of Andrae Crouch and Dallas Holm …you might be a Pharisee.

If you think the new youth pastor should not be trusted with the care of your children because he has an ICHTHUS tattoo…you might be a Pharisee.

If you rebuked the visiting preacher for not wearing a tie when he was in the pulpit …you might be a Pharisee.

If you boycotted The End of the Spear because the part of Nate Saint was played by a homosexual …you might be a Pharisee.

If you refuse to watch The Passion of the Christ because it borrows too heavily from Catholic tradition …you might be a Pharisee.

Feel free to add any "You might be a Pharisee if..." ideas to the comments section below.

Mariolotry

2007-01-29T15:27:00.000-05:00

Apostasy rears its ugly head again. There seems to be no end to the "reinvention" of Christianity. I was looking into the "Emerging Church" movement and found out that the only thing they seem to have emerged from is the pit of hell. These apostates are looking to incorporate more and more of the ancient rituals of such pagan influenced sources as Roman Catholocism. It seems like every time you read about a so called emerging church they're lighting candles, meditating, wandering through labyrinths, embracing "Celtic Christianity," and the like. The latest invention is a reawakening of Mariolotry - the worship of Mary.

Scot McKnight, founder of Jesus Creed, has written a book called The Real Mary: Why Evangelical Christians Can Embrace the Mother of Jesus. Well I, for one, will not be reading this book because first of all I am not an Evangelical. I am a Fundamentalist of the proudest variety. As the pastor of Grace Pharisee Church, I would no more call myself an Evangelical (too bad the dropped the "Neo-" off their name because that's what they really are) than I would call myself a Democrat. Both are godless apostates to the cause of God and Truth. If apostate Evangelicals want to embrace Mary, then they can be my guest as they head even further down the path of perdition.

Secondly, I have no interest in gazing into anything that is remotely associated with Catholics or Catholocism. The veneration of Mary is central to Catholic tradition and dogma to the point of worship. As a result I won't even mention Mary in church except one Sunday a year in December. And even then, it's blessedly brief because I would much rather focus on the important characters in the story like Joseph, the shepherds and the wise men. I think a focus on Mary robs us of the need to focus on the masculine elements associated with the Godhead.

Finally, since Mary has such a small place in the Bible, I would think it unBiblical to mention her any more than one week out of the year. Had she been present at any of Jesus' miracles, or during any of his earthly ministry, or even at the ctucifixion ro resurrection, I would mention her. But clearly she is a minor character undeserving of much notice in scripture. I think we should just ignore her like most good Protestant denominations have done over the centuries.

Hairology

2007-01-22T10:44:00.000-05:00

I was recently forwarded an MP3 of a sermon by a dear brother on the subject of Hairology. What is Hairology, you ask? It is a study on the Biblical Doctrine of hair. This masterful message is an oldie but a goodie by Dr. G. I. Barber, but the message is no less important for us today. Go to: http://www.sharperiron.org/2006/09/22/on-biblical-hairology for Biblical teaching on the doctrine of hair.

On Being Persecuted

2006-12-08T21:05:00.000-05:00

Was directed to a series of videos that were clearly designed to mock Godly Christians. These videos are heinous attempts to discredit those who live devout lives by parodying them in the worst possible way. These atrocious videos are posted by Community Christian Church and were posted to that godless bastion of contemporary madness, YouTube.

However, rather than railing about how incredibly dangerous these videos are, I will simply post there here for you to see for yourself how horribly these contemporary anti-Christians are persecuting the followers of Jesus.

As you can see, these are not just parodies of Christianity, but the Mac/PC commercials too.

Undenominationalism

2006-11-27T19:31:00.000-05:00

The most frequent criticism leveled against me (apart from not being “loving” enough) is that I am an unabashed promoter of sectarianism and denominationalism by being such a strong partisan for the Pharisee denomination. I am sure that just like me, you fail to see what is wrong with being a “partisan” for the Pharisee denomination. To paraphrase a quote of that great American patriot, Barry Goldwater, “extremism in the defense of doctrine is no vice and moderation in the pursuit of Truth is no virtue.” Aside from that, these clueless critics of contemporary compromise act like unity and a big interdenominational group hug are what Christianity is all about. They seem to think that my unwillingness to give up a commitment to Truth is some sort of impediment to being supportive of Christianity. What balderdash.

Just because I was born into a Pharisee family, raised in a Pharisee church, attended a Pharisee Bible college, and now pastor a Pharisee church, is no reason to assume that I am a “denominational hack” as some assert. I am a Pharisee by conviction, not by enculturation. I am a diligent seeker of the Truth and it is crystal clear to me that the Pharisee denomination that holds to the full council of God (and not every church with the Pharisee name on the sign is truly a Pharisee church in practice). When my critics say, “Pastor Gamaliel, you should fall in love with Jesus, not your denomination,” I reply by stating that they should fall in love with the Truth. Jesus said, “I am the way, THE TRUTH, and the life…” (Emphasis mine) indicating that anyone who loves the Truth, by extension loves Jesus. My critics don’t seem to think that one can love doctrinal truth and Jesus at the same time.

I have been told that denominational boundaries are nothing but man-made distinctions that unnecessarily and sinfully divide the Body of Christ. They try to tell me that the biblical thing to do is to abandon these artificial appellations and all just go by the name of “Christian” as if this will solve the problem of sectarianism. That way we can practice an open minded acceptance of all true believer regardless of their faith tradition. What hogwash!

First of all, the notion that there could possibly be true believers outside the confines of the Pharisee denomination is their first blunder. Every good Pharisee knows that if one is TRULY a believer, they will eventually come to see the truth of Pharisee doctrine. If they don’t, then clearly they are only pretenders to the cause of Christ and are false professors of Christianity. But the main reason for maintaining denominational distinctives is because failing to do so ignores the apostasy that is so much a part of all the non-Pharisee denominations.

Beyond that, breaking down denominational walls means that we are ignoring the importance of Bible doctrine. The primary focus of the Bible and the New Testament in particular is to highly exalt doctrine. Since most of the real differences between denominations is doctrinal in nature, abandoning denominational segregation is merely a ploy to get true Pharisee churches to relinquish their hold on the Truth and embrace the syncretism that has infected all of the other liberal denominations today.

All denominations, with the exception of my own Pharisee denomination, are infected with varying degrees of doctrinal error. When someone is making mud pies, it does nothing to their final product to add more mud to the mix, but if you are making apple pies, no amount of mud is tolerable. If false denominations and churches filled with doctrinal error like the belief that there is nothing wrong with reading modern translations of the Bible or it is okay for Christians to listen to so-called Christian rock music, want to associate with one another free from the constraints of denominational distinction, then that is fine with me. They can all make mud pies together. But the Pharisee denomination contains the pure, unadulterated water of God’s word, plus nothing and minus nothing. Any mixture with the corrupting mud of false denominations is too much to tolerate.

“But what about uniting with them in good causes? Surely you can join with them in opposing abortion and promoting the Republican agenda, can’t you?” they ask. While I agree that abortion is wrong and that all True Christians support the Republican Party, that is no excuse for budging the least bit from the firm foundation of Truth upon which we stand. The believer is instructed in the book of Jude to "earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" There is no hint here or anywhere else in Scripture that some part of the Christian faith is of such little importance that it is to be disregarded for the sake of a broader unity. Biblical admonitions to “come out from among them and be ye separate” cannot be ignored in such lesser pursuits as poverty relief, famine relief or providing medical aid for HIV victims.

Despite the fact that there is no mention of denominationalism in scripture, the ecumenical push to break down denominational walls is unscriptural and must be resisted. Those who have the most to lose from the ecumenical call to dissolve denominational walls are those faithful Pharisee churches like ours whose doctrine is based upon the Word of God. None of the other error-ridden churches has anything to lose since mixing error with error does nothing to corrupt their already apostate condition any more, but as the only denomination which preaches and practices the WHOLE council or God, it is incumbent on us to remain staunch in our refusal to join with them for any reason, no matter how high-sounding the cause may be.

This stand does not come without a cost, however. I do truly regret that we cannot in good conscience support the Gideons because of their compromising ways in taking money from non-Pharisee churches. However, we draw consolation from the fact that there are plenty of other churches out there willing to sell-out to popular acclaim and support them. If the Gideons would take money only from good, sound Pharisee churches, then we would possibly consider supporting them financially, but alas, I doubt that day will ever come.

Giving Thanks

2006-11-27T19:13:00.000-05:00

While a good Pharisee like myself is thankful all year long, Thanksgiving is typically the time we set aside as a culture to return thanks to God. Fulfilling my responsibility as a good thankful Christian, I would like to tell everyone what I am thankful for and ways in which you can be thankful too. Let us look to the gospel of Luke to find Jesus’ instruction on how to be truly thankful. He instructs us to pray like this, “I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all I possess.” This passage highlights two primary things that we should thank God for.

First of all we should be thankful that we are not like others. I am thankful that I am not like those well-meaning Christians who are caught up in error and apostasy. They may be saved and have good intentions, but for the most part they fall short of God’s expectations. They fail to preach a doctrine of strict separation from the things of the world and they employe modern ministry methods like contemporary worship music, or the syncretistic, “anything goes” church growth methods espoused by Rick Warren on www.pastors.com. I am so thankful to God for the fact that I have never been tempted by such worldly concerns as modern innovations, big crowds and other errors of the church growth movement. Many pastors are driven by envy and ego to pursue the largest congregation they can assemble. I am grateful that my ego is easily contained within my tiny congregation of faithful Pharisees and my vast internet ministry.

I am also thankful that I am not like the ungodly sinners out there. As Jesus instructs us in this model prayer of thanksgiving, I am thankful that I am not like other people who are guilty of extortion. It is easy to be thankful for not being like Jeffery Skilling or Kenneth Lay, but other extortioners are less obvious. I am thankful not to be like modern media ministers who extort funds through appeals to social causes. Instead of using force, they use guilt and manipulative techniques to get innocent Christians to take funds that rightfully belong to the local church and give them to such alleged causes as feeding the hungry or caring for orphans. You can rest assured that my congregation knows where I stand on this issue - if I ever find out any one of my church members has given any money to any cause outside of our church’s mission efforts, they will be kicked off the rolls faster than you can say “Feed The Hungry.”

The second thing that Jesus expects us to thank God for is the abundance of good deeds that we do. Because God has saved me, he has made me a better person than those around me. He has given me the power to live a better life than everyone else. This is not to say that there is anything worthwhile within myself, but rather I am chosen purely as an act of God’s grace. Any goodness or righteousness that I have is strictly a response to the operation of God in my life and is nothing I work up myself. This is what makes me better than most people - God’s gracious unmerited favor that has elevated me to the heights of spirituality and devotion.

Some would say, “Pastor Gamaliel, the passage says that the man was thankful for fasting and tithing and I have never seen you do either. How can you say then that you are thankful for being a spiritual Christian?” While it is true that I rarely practice fasting, we need to keep in mind that we can easily get too legalistic about the word of God. To require the discipline of fasting would be an example of adding to God’s laws and making one person’s convictions and personal preferences set a spiritual standard that is not found in the Bible. I would never do such a thing. I think fasting should be a matter of personal conviction between the Christian and God. While I would encourage others to practice fasting, I am neither going to mandate when they should fast, nor discuss whether or not I do it. I fear that if I do, others would take my example as an example and seek to copy me, thus making my convictions their own and I would never want that to happen. Mature Christians should have their own convictions rather than acting like robots waiting to be programmed by their pastors.

As for the tithe, there is a reason I do not practice tithing. A tithe just means “a tenth” or a tiny portion given back to God. I would never give such a paltry sum to God. My spirituality compels me to give all of my income to him. Since every penny of my earnings comes 100% from God and every single dime I spend is in the service of God, instead of giving 10% as nominal Christians do, I give 100% of my income to God’s service. Because I work 24 hours a day for God, then I am always giving to Him, every time I spend anything. The advantage I have as a pastor is that I do not have to go through the church treasurer to put my money into service for God. Because I have dedicated my life to Full Tim Christian Service, anything I spend is spent to support the work of my ministry, so everything I buy is on God’s behalf. In order for you to provide for the cause of Christ, you need to drop your checks and cash into the offering plates each week. In order for me to provide for the cause of Christ, I go to the grocery store.

And that brings up another thing I am thankful for - my high calling in service to God that sets me apart from those around me. Not only am I not like other men, I am also not like other Christians. For that I offer up my deepest thanks to the Father.

Positive Negativism

2006-11-20T16:01:00.000-05:00

The broad success of Joel Osteen’s ministry is proof that he can’t possibly be teaching the truth. His phenomenal success (by worldly standards) at building a church in excess of 30,000 members, founding a broadcasting empire and the release of his latest best-selling book are proof that he has abandoned the truth once delivered to the saints. Everyone knows that the mass of humanity (as well as the bulk of casual Christianity) doesn't love the truth, aren’t seeking after it and try to avoid it when they can. We know that the natural man does not receive the things of God and that these things are revealed only to the few, the faithful remnant, the elect, the Chosen of God.

So what makes Joel Osteen and his ministry so dangerous? It is the allure of his message of optimistic positivism. The very title of his book, Your Best Life Now, speaks to a gospel of instant gratification. Every true Christian knows that the Christian life is one of constant suffering, turmoil, tribulation and woe. God is not interested in giving us happiness in the here and now but only in the hereafter. Anyone who tries to persuade people that this life is anything more than a vale of tears and constant sorrow is proclaiming damnable heresy.

Osteen is dedicated to preaching a version of Norman Vincent Peale’s power of positive thinking. This is the very message that Satan would like to fill the minds and hearts of gullible people. The idea that a positive, feel good message has any place in the Gospel of Jesus Christ threatens to undermine the very Good News that we have been called to proclaim. There is no place for positive optimism in the preaching of the truth. In its place I would like to offer the Truth of a negative, feel-bad gospel in line with the message of the Bible.

Some negatives of the gospel:

· We are all worthless scum in the eyes of God (We are straying sheep, filthy rags, and generally unfit for any godly endeavor)

· Denial of all worldly pleasures (Any worldly pleasure we may hope to enjoy is merely an occasion for us to satisfy the flesh, something we should avoid at all costs)

· Emphasis on sin and condemnation (Since sin is our biggest problem, it should receive our greatest emphasis. Those who would preach grace to the exclusion of sin, miss out on why we need grace in the first place. A strong emphasis on sin means we need to spend less time on grace because people will be more prepared to receive it.)

· Emphasis on hell and the hereafter (Any pleasures we may aspire to are all in the hereafter. There is nothing in this life for us now other than suffering and woe. To teach otherwise is to lead people to perdition before their time.)

· Preaching against false teachers and other purveyors of positivism

§ False messages

§ False methods

§ False minions

We need to be positive about the negatives because the Bible places so much emphasis on them.

· Weeds out the wannabes - Matthew 23:4 "For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers," teaches us that our role is to burden those who would enter the kingdom so they know how hard the Christian life is.

· Concentrates our efforts - the apostle Paul teaches us the we need to deny ourselves in Colossians 2:23 "Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body: not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh."

· Creates satisfaction - Jesus expressed his great love for the Rich Young Ruler but pointed out that despite all the good he had done, his unwillingness to eschew wealth in the cause of Christ made him unfit for the Kingdom. Thankfully, I am a poor, humble preacher of the gospel, so I am guaranteed an entrance into heavenly bliss and I am not going to jeopardize it by having any bliss in this life.

I would like to conclude by saying that it is about time we had more negative messages so we don’t end up falling for Your Best Life Now or even the heresy of so-called Christian hedonism from such liberal libertines like John Piper.

Mean & Wild

2006-11-12T21:04:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading Mark Galli’s new book, Jesus Mean and Wild, and I think he’s off to a good start. Unfortunately, like most modern writers, he does not go quite far enough, and certainly not as far as I have gone in exploring the real mean and wild Jesus. I have grown weary of the namby-pamby approach to ministry so often espoused by those self-esteem gurus of laissez faire, anything goes Christianity like John McArthur, John Piper, and D. James Kennedy. Mark Galli has finally found the Jesus of the Gospels that these maudlin ministers of meek and mild have missed all these years.

Jesus Mean and Wild tells of a Jesus who is much like myself. Eschewing any pretense of being nice, I seek instead to administer loving rebuke to those in need. The loving thing to do to a child about to touch a hot stove is to shout out a warning. And that is the focus of my ministry – shouting out timely warnings to those who are about to be burned by sin. And when the shouted warning doesn’t work, just like Jesus wielded the whip in the temple, I bring out the heavy hardware to keep people from turning God’s house of worship into a pagan bacchanal like they do in those “praise and worship” services at most contemporary services. It is my duty to loving drive out all of the insidious influences that infect the innocent purity of our devotions including contemporary music, lewd clothing and tattoos.

But modern conveniences aren’t the only thing that needs to be driven out. Just like Achan’s sin that cause the death of his fellow Israelite’s we need to purge out the sin of doctrinal error. Every time the twin demons of compromise and syncretism pay a visit to our church, it is time for me to drive them from our church just like Joshua took care of Achan and his family. Just last month I had to fire another Sunday School teacher for attempting to use one of the modern per-versions of the Bible in reading to the little ones. Doesn’t she know how impressionable these young minds are and how easily they are led astray? Even worse, letting her bring her forbidden Babylonianish trappings into our sanctuary had the potential to bring down the whole church, just like that wicked, selfish Israelite of old. If I come across as cruel and insensitive, it is ultimately for the good of the whole church so we are not all brought down by her sinfulness. Ultimately, I’m being cruel to be kind in the last measure.

So when I shout warnings about the dangers of movies, contemporary Christian music, card playing and immodest dress, I am attempting to save them from a worse fate than the momentary unpleasantness at having to listen to my rants and screeds. I am seeking to rescue them from the certain doom that is to befall them, their families, and the innocent bystanders in the church. By slapping a Playstation 2 out of the hands of a witless teen-ager I may be preventing the next Columbine massacre. When I jerk the earbuds of an iPod from the ears of a hapless youngster listening to the latest John Reuben song, I just might be saving him from a gruesome death in a gangland shooting. And parents should thank me from the bottom of their hearts for sternly rebuking their daughters for wearing flattering makeup and clothing that highlights their nubile feminine assets because I just may be saving that child from an unwanted pregnancy that could bring grief to her whole family.

Yes, my ministry is just like that of our Lord. When I spot the merest wick of smoldering passion lighting the eyes of a church member I stamp it out. And for those reeds who have been bruised by their flirtations with the world, I bend them over until they are broken before God in abject shame, guilt and repentance. And where Jesus spent his ministry rebuking the overly religious and self-righteous, I have found my calling to rebuke the sinners, the defiled and those who would adulterate the faith once delivered to the saints with all manner of vile modern innovations. I will make sure that every lukewarm carnal Christian knows the error of their ways and drive them like cattle to follow the straight and narrow. My mean and wild side could keep temptation at bay and save the souls of many a wayward sinner – if only they would heed my message and mend their ways.

Wounding the Shooted

2006-08-09T22:32:00.000-05:00

I receive a good bit of undeserved criticism from a good many undiscerning Christians who think it necessary to point out my supposed errors. One of the most common comments is, "Christians are the only soldiers who shoot their own wounded," followed by some petty critique of my most recent post. There are a number of errors they make in this; the first is that somehow I am "shooting" wounded Christians. As far as I know, no one has died or even been seriously wounded by any comments I have made on my web site. More importantly, they miss out on the fact that there are degrees of woundedness. Not everyone is wounded in the same way and as a result, they don't all deserve the same treatment. This week I would like to point out who the "wounded" are.

The Casualties

The first category of "wounded" are the ones who are, according to Ephesians 2:1, dead in their trespasses and sins. These are the people who smoke, drink, dance, go to movies and otherwise live lives of total depravity and wanton debauchery. When we take our "pot shots" at these folks, it is the equivalent of giving a corpse a good swift kick to see if there are any signs of life. If the person responds to the shock to their system, it is evidence that there may be hope. Their wounds may not be permanent and so we share the Good News of the Gospel with them. We reveal to them that they are hell-bent sinners headed for eternal destruction, traveling the wide way that will lead them to everlasting torment in the pits of a devil's hell. We explain that there is no good thing they can do in their fleshly efforts that will cause God to care one little bit for them and that their only hope is to repent of their sins and just maybe God will have mercy on their unworthy souls. Sharing such soul-stirring goodness should be able to stimulate even the most horribly wounded to stagger into the loving arms of our Lord

The Self-Inflicted Wounded

These people are the ones who have been rescued from perdition but are still attracted to it. They sin willfully after one or two admonitions and are unheeding of any further rebukes. They are frequently seen at all sorts of worldly amusements like beaches or restaurants that serve alcoholic beverages or other ungodly pursuits. These people are unworthy of any honor, decency, respect or consideration. These are people who haven't been wounded deeply enough to pay attention to the danger they are in. If anything they should be wounded a little more just to get their attention. The best course of action is to shame them, shun them, and shower them with rebuke. They can't help but benefit from our tender ministrations that emphasize their unwholesome condition. As Proverbs tells us, the deep, painful wounds inflicted by a friend will snap them back to reality. And as far as I'm concerned, the more severe and sooner the better.

The Mortally Wounded

There are some who are mortally wounded. Some wounds are so deep and so devastating that there is no hope of treatment. For these people, the application of our healing, restorative efforts only prolong their suffering, delaying the inevitable. I know this from painful experience. On many occasions I have appeared with the cleansing methiolate of conviction, liberally applied to the gaping wounds of a sin-sick soul, only to have the patient respond to the healing sting like an enraged animal. At first I attributed their beastly reaction to the initial sting of rebuke that would quickly fade as the healing power of guilt suffused their soul. How wrong I was. It turns out that the more liberally I applied the healing salve, the more ungrateful these wounded Christians became. I cannot begin to count the number of mortally wounded Christians I've confronted with condemnation of the unfruitful works of darkness in their lives and seen this patter repeat itself. In these cases, the most merciful thing to do is to put these people out of their misery. I think we could learn from veterinarians who never deign to treat a rabid dog but put it down as soon as they can before it infects anything else.

The Worthy Wounded

These people are the ones, like myself, have been wounded in the service of God. We have suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune at the hands of those who are Christian in name only. We become those whom the rabid Christians turn upon in scorn and fury. They heap on us undeserved scorn, derision and mocking all because we try to help them see the error of their ways and lead them to repentance from their abominable works. We are the ones who have taken more than our fair share of pot shots in the service of the Lord. We bear our wounds with pride and salve one another with the consoling balm of encouragement, knowing that as the persecuted the prophets in the past, and our Savior, that they should also persecute us.

The greatest irony is that my critics who complain about me shooting our own wounded are the ones lobbing grenades in my direction. If they are so concerned about Christians who are shooting their own wounded, then maybe they need to take their own advice and stop taking shots at me.

The inspiration for this post can be found here.

Some Things to Some Men

2006-07-07T13:06:00.000-05:00

All this talk of Christian liberty has started quite a bit of controversy in otherwise dependable Pharisee churches. I found it necessary to correct some serious errors in our denomination while speaking at a recent conference on the topic. The purpose of the conference was “Communicating Christianity to the 21st Century: Cultural Outreach without Compromise.” I was disturbed by the unhealthy focus on whatever-it-takes evangelistic efforts based on misinterpretations of 1 Corinthians 9:22 where Paul says, “I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” In order to correct their misapprehension about this verse, my message concentrated on the following points:

Paul said in the previous verse that he was “not without the law to God” so it is clear that we are under the Law of Christ. We are never free to do that which is contrary to scripture like wearing immodest or casual clothing in the worship service. If Paul were alive today, he would never wear a Hawaiian shirt or go without wearing socks or a tie at any time, let alone in the pulpit.
In 1 Corinthians 9:27 Paul informs us that he keeps his body in subjection, meaning that he would never engage in such unholy practices like wearing long hair, tattoos or pierced ears (or other body parts). Scripture tells us that it is a shame for men to wear long hair. Since Paul would never violate scripture, we can know for a fact that he would never have worn a pony tail, even if he were playing in the praise and worship band.
Paul also says in Galatians 5:13 not to use liberty as an occasion for the flesh. Rock and roll music has absolutely no spiritual value and only exists to appeal to the fleshly, prurient lusts of lascivious listeners. He would never countenance such music in church. Only the disobedient and deluded would use rock & roll music in church.
Last of all, Paul said we are to abstain from the very appearance of evil. This is the strictest form of separation possible and there is no way the apostle would promote the kind of loose living and compromising methods that we see becoming so popular among undisciplined Christian. He would have been well aware of Jeremiah’s warning to “Learn not the way of the heathen,” including their vile practices of rock &amp; roll; immodest and disrespectful indecent dress; heathen mutilation practices like tattoos and horrid piercings.

While the message may not have received a warm reception at the time I preached it, I am sure that overall the sentiment was appreciated. All of the other messages at the conference were lacking in passion , fire, zeal and steadfast dedication to proclaiming the unvarnished, uncompromising Message of God. Instead, they were all concerned about reaching out to people with a soft, lovey-dovey tepid gospel message emphasizing all the squishy, syrupy sweet aspects of God. They were all talking about grace and love and mercy with no mention of sin, wickedness, depravity and repentance from dead works. So for the benefit of all those who need and appreciate a good solid message, I am posting my outline here for all to read.

The inspiration for this post can be found here.

Liberal Libertines (Part 3)

2006-06-23T14:53:00.000-05:00

I don’t believe there is any hope for young Gaius. He has become totally corrupted by the worldly influences of The Agora, a contemporary style church he is attending. The church itself is one of the modern liberal apostate churches that are so popular with young people today. I e-mailed him one last time to warn him of the grave danger he was in. Rather than heeding my advice, however, he responded with ridicule.

Here is what I sent:

My Dear Gaius,

I understand your desire for liberty, but I am afraid that you may be in serious peril. I have it on good authority that the people at The Agora play rick music in their so-called worship service. Everyone knows that the throbbing beat of such music appeals to the flesh, not the spirit. Rock and roll is demon-inspired music straight from the pits of hell and has no place in godly worship. It is not expedient for Christians who are instructed to be suber and vigilant in this wicked age to try to incorporate the devil’s music in God’s worship.

Here are Four Tests For Christian Activities to determine whether or not you should allow certain thing in your life.
1. Does it bring me under its power?
2. Is it expedient?
3. Does it edify?
4. Does it help or hinder my fellow man or cause him to stumble?

Certainly, we would not want you to be a stublingblock to anyone including your children. Consider these Four Tests carefully and prayerfully and then let me know how, in good conscience, you can continue to worship with the licentious crowd at The Agora.

By God’s Grace Alone,
Gamaliel

Two days later I received this insulting and disrespectful reply:

Gamaliel,

I applied your four test to church and here is how we turned out.

The music did not bring us under its power. We were not gyrating in hedonistic abandon in the service like you seem to think. We stood in worshipful adoration of a soverign creator who saved us by the power of his marvelous grace.
We feel that our worship is expedient. The Psalms tell us to worship God with music of all kinds. They tell us to sing new songs with a loud noise. Since it is expedient to obey the scripture, our worship passes your second test.
Since most of the lyrics in the songs are based on scripture or quote directly from it, you can see that our songs are edifying.
Beause our music is upbeat and encouraging, we are attracting people to church. We are drawing them in with our lively spirit and sharing the gospel with them. Far from causing others to stumble, we are seeing souls saved nearly every week. In fact, we have seen more people come to Christ in the last month at The Agora than we saw the entire time we were at your church.

Since you were kind enough to send me the Four Tests, I though you would appreciate it if I applied them to one of your favorite activities – The Carry-In Dinners that your church hosts every month.

1. Does it bring me under its power?
Since you seem pretty addicted to fried chicken (even encouraging people to bring plenty to the dinners) you have obviously fallen completely under the power of the red & white bucket. You should cancel your next Carry-In Dinner and announce that instead you are going to have a church-wide fast. This should free you and your members from satiating your fleshly lusts.

2. Is it expedient?
Since the Bible speaks often on the subject of fasting, it is clearly not expedient to have church Carry-In Dinners. Nowhere in the Bible are you admonished to eat so much that you have to “let the old belt out a notch or two,” as you say after nearly every meal. In fact, 1 Corinthians 11:22 warns against this very thing, telling you to keep your feasting at home.

3. Does it edify?
I admit that eating second and third helpings of sumptuous dinners on a monthly basis may build you up. Unfortunately, the only part of you it will build up is your waste size and the reading on your bathroom scale. I doubt that your gluttony builds you up spiritually. In fact, satisfying your stomach most likely hinders your spiritual growth.

4. Does it help or hinder my fellow man or cause him to stumble?
The fact that your church hosts those Carry-In dinners on a regular basis indicates to me that you, in your capacity as pastor, are causing plenty of people to stumble at the sin of gluttony. You are a hindrance to their continued spiritual growth by failing to cultivate, demonstrate and encourage the spiritual discipline of fasting.

Since you are so spiritual, I am confident that you will be ending the wicked, sinful, gluttonous hedonism of Carry-In Dinners at your church. I believe your warning against practicing things that appeal to the flesh is timely and I look forward to seeing you put your own warning into practice by abstaining from church-sanctioned gluttony. Let me know when you have finally stopped engaging in this dangerous practice of appealing to the flesh and we might give thoughtful consideration to your warnings. Only then can you write to me and tell me how bad the Agora is.

Respectfully,
Gaius

As you can tell, he is an impertinent, disrespectful and unrepentant reprobate. He is rude and judgmental. I find it to be the height of hypocritical hubris for him to think he could possibly judge me or my preferred style of worshipping God through celebratory feasting. His condemnatory tone was unconscionable. I decided to shake the dust off my feet against him and leave him to continue his inexorable slide down the slippery slope to hell where he is bound.

Let this be a warning to you all. Once you begin to exercise your liberty, it inevitably leads you deeper and deeper into sin. A girl who petitions her parents to wear slacks will not stop there. If her parents give in, she will then ask to wear capris. Her parents, thinking it is just a tiny step that makes no real difference, will relent. Next she will ask for loose shorts, then tight shorts and eventually she will end up dressed in nothing but a thong – all because her parents first let her put on a pair of slacks.

A young boy who starts out wanting to listen to contemporary Christian music (because of it’s “uplifting message”) is doomed to end his days at a heavy metal rock concert strung out on alcohol or drugs and covered in the blood of live chickens who have had their heads bitten off on stage.

Don’t let this happen to you! Avoid any church that appears to have even the merest hint of fun.

The inspiration for this post can be found here.

Liberal Libertines (Part 2)

2006-06-16T14:49:00.000-05:00

As you may recall from last week, I was working with a young man who had left our church for a contemporary church that was, in his words, “fun.” Because I didn’t want him to slide into apostasy among the lazy, lay-about Christians at his new church, I told him in the sternest tone I could muster that there is nothing “fun” in the Bible. The Word of God focuses instead on unquestioning obedience, extreme spiritual caution and spotless separation from the world. I quoted from the great preachers of the Bible like James, John, Paul and Peter, who railed against sin and called God’s people to holiness and separated living.

His response was typical of those who have fallen under the thrall of postmodern libertinism, liberalism and general heresy. He said:

Pastor Gamaliel,

I see that you have taken my meaning of the word ‘fun’ to mean something different from what I really meant. I did not mean that I was looking for ‘fun and games’ in church. I was looking for a church that was enjoyable rather than simply bearable. At best.

I am very happy at The Agora because there is far more grace and Christian liberty in their worship, teaching, and Christian service than what I found in Pharisee churches. On the whole, I have found most Pharisee churches to be legalistic and condemning instead of loving and encouraging. Not only that, I found your church is even stricter than others in the Pharisee denomination as indicated by your recent e-mail.

Gaius

Except for the evident pride I took at being known for the strictest church in our denomination, I was gravely disturbed by this young man’s response. I wrote to warn him not to use his liberty for an occasion to evil (Galatians 5:13). He clearly needed to know that there are biblical limits to our Christian liberty. I told him that Christians were indeed free in Christ, but that didn’t mean that we are free to do anything we please. We are NOT free to:

Commit fornication (I Corinthians 6:16-18)
Be involved in uncleanness (I Thessalonians 4:7)
Join the unfruitful works of darkness (Ephesians 5:11)
Be drunk with wine (Ephesians 5:18)
Allow corrupt communication to come out of our mouths (Ephesians 4:29)
Allow any filthiness (II Corinthians 7:1)
Be involved with anything that has the appearance of evil (I Thessalonians 5:22)
Love the things of the world (I John 2:15-17)
Befriend the world (James 4:4)
Dress immodestly (I Timothy 2:9)

Unfortunately, his rebellious heart continued to deceive him into thinking that The Agora was a godly church. This is what he wrote back:

Pastor Gamaliel,

I have been going to The Agora for more than a month now and you will be pleased to know that neither I nor anyone in my family is fornicating with anyone in or out of the church. Nor are we involved in any uncleanness or unfruitful works of darkness. You will also be thrilled to know that no one at our church has been drunk with wine. I can assure you that I have never heard any corrupt communication come out of anyone’s mouth, neither have I seen anyone allowing any filthiness or being involved with anything that has the appearance of evil.

I do not love the world.

I am not a friend of the world.

I do not dress immodestly.

I want to thank you once again for your concern, but as you can see, I have not falling into sin. My liberty has not caused me to lose my spirituality. As you know from your reading of I Corinthians 6:12-13; 8:1-13; 10:23-24 and Romans 14, we are free in Christ. More importantly, we are also free from being judged by other Christians like yourself.

Gaius

This young man is clearly deluded by his own sophistry. What he fails to realize is that these verses do not exempt him from judgment of any kind. He may think he is free to live any way he chooses, but this is certainly no part of the New Testament message. Despite his claims to the contrary, I am sure Gaius is abusing his liberty in order to satisfy his carnal desires.

The only thing our liberty frees us to do is to be obedient to the Bible. His gravest error is to think that he, a mere layman, is capable of deciding for himself what the Bible says. He is clearly allowing his own fleshly desires to affect his interpretation. Because I am able to take an objective, dispassionate view of the Bible, he should trust my enlightened and informed interpretation of the Bible over his own misconception of what the Bible says. My devotion to godly living assures me that I will not be led into wantonness and profligacy, so I can provide righteous guidance. Taking this Biblically-mandated responsibility to be a shepherd to the sheep, I wrote him to warn him one more time of his immanent peril. I will let you know next week how he responds.

The inspiration for this post can be found here.

Liberal Libertines (Part 1)

2006-06-09T14:46:00.000-05:00

The saddest event that can happen in the life of a Man of God such as myself is when a promising young man allows himself to be drawn into falsehood and apostasy. I had this very experience happen last month. Young Gaius had a wonderful gift with young people and I had great hopes for him. Even though there were less than half a dozen young people in our church, Gaius was doing a marvelous job with them. Unfortunately he allowed the heady responsibility of being Youth Pastor turn him away from the faith.

I suspect that he was possessed of a rebellious heart because he started asking a number of questions that challenged much of what I was preaching from the pulpit. Had he been content with the answers I gave him instead of coming back with verses that he believed contradicted me, I'm sure he would have turned out just fine. Instead, he was lured into apostasy by one of the modern non-denominational churches in town called, "The Agora." I sent him an e-mail expressing my compassionate concern over his willingness to ally himself with a godless, liberal, apostate, contemporary church, warning him of the danger of such a course. I closed with an appeal not to forsake the faith but to keep his mind pure and untainted from the worldly forms of hedonistic worship he was subjecting his family to. He sent back this reply:

Pastor Gamaliel,

Thank you for your concern. I would like to encourage you not to worry about the welfare of my family and me. The Agora is a wonderful church. It is filled with people who love the Lord and one another.

The reason we are attending there is because I feel more liberty and more love than I ever felt in your church. I am having more fun and I find myself enjoying church for the first time in a long while. I am so glad to be free of the awful legalism I found in your church. The sermons at The Agora are filled with grace and compassion. They are not full of criticism and condemnation like the ones you preach. It is so much nicer to be ENCOURAGED by the pastor instead of being JUDGED all the time.

I appreciate your interest in our welfare but you don't need to worry. We will not be returning to First Pharisee Church anytime soon.

Gaius

It was clear to me from his reply that young Gaius had grown lackadaisical in his church attendance. Everyone knows that the Agora is full of backslidden, lazy Christians because they don't hold Sunday evening or Wednesday evening Bible study services.

Sure, they have a Saturday night "seeker" service but those are widely regarded by most Pharisee pastors as obvious attempts to appeal to worldly people through a watered-down version of the gospel. They tone back their preaching on sin, and appeal to the flesh by playing God-dishonoring rock and roll music and movies.

In order to assuage the guilt of Agora members who feel guilty for not attending midweek services, they encourage people to attend Home Bible Studies. However, these are such casual affairs that no serious study of God's word could possibly take place. First of all they are not led by trained professional ministers, second they encourage people to dress casually and finally they have no set curriculum or study guide. It is clearly a case of every man doing that which is right in his own eyes. Besides, Ephesians 3:21 says, "Unto him be glory in the church," not in a Home Bible Study.

I could also tell from his reply that Gaius was putting more emphasis on recreation and relaxation with his family than on the rigorous practice of worship. Like most young people, he would rather focus on sports, the great outdoors or the endless variety of activities that are unconnected to dedicated, godly service. Our church, by way of contrast, would never sponsor recreational retreats. We recognize that it is more important to study the word and feed the spirit than it is to canoe down some river or camp in some national park in the company of other lukewarm Christians bent on satisfying their fleshly desires.

Christians should not meet to play. They should meet to pray.

They shouldn't be wrestling over a football. They should be wrestling over the truths of God's word.

People who want to spend time with their families rather than the Family of God are not worthy of the name. The only thing these people want is a thin veneer of some shallow Christian service. They do petty little things like working in the local homeless shelter, soup kitchen or Habitat for Humanity project. These so-called Christians have no interest in digging into the Word with hard, diligent study. All they want to do is "minister" to the needs of the poor and unfortunate as a poor substitute for real service to God – condemning sin and preaching the gospel of repentance.

My duty is clear. As a spiritual Christian, it is incumbent on me to restore wandering sheep like Gaius and his family. The most loving thing I can do is to rebuke him sharply for leading his family into error and apostasy. I shall also admonish him to be true to the Pharisee faith once delivered to the saints. He needs to heed my warning, repent of his declension from the truth and return to the fold of the fundamentalist faithful. I will keep you posted on my success.

The inspiration for this post can be found here.

Homeschool Crisis

2006-05-30T14:43:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine sent me a recent article from Reb Bradley, author of Child Training Tips: What I Wish I Knew When My Children Were Young and its apparent sequel in sermon format on four CDs, What I REALLY Wish I Knew When My Children Were Young. It is a shame to see how low the mighty have fallen. Bradley is still an avid homeschooler but this recent article points out some serious flaws in his character of which I was previously unaware. He may have been successful at home educating, but as a parent he is a dismal failure. I would like to use this week's space to make some comments on his article.

He opened his article with an observation I have made repeatedly over the years. He says:

In the last couple of years, I have heardfrommultitudesoftroubledhomeschoolparents around the country, a good many of whom were leaders. These parents have graduated their first batch of kids, only to discover that their children didn't turn out the way they thought they would. Many of these children were model homeschoolers while growing up, but sometime after their 18th birthday they began to reveal that they didn’t hold to their parents’ values.

I have seen this tragic scenario played out again and again in the families of my friends and acquaintances. Parents who provided a god-fearing Pharisee upbringing for their children, who sought to mold them into the rigid conformity of separated living were brought low by rebellious children who left the house and took a place in the world. Many of these children fell away from the faith and cast off their Pharisee heritage. They joined churches with godless, wicked, sinful contemporary music where people are allowed to come to services dressed any way they pleased. They started running with the crowd of carnal Christians, attending so-called "Christian" rock concerts and seminars where known compromisers of the faith were teaching - heretics like Rick Warren, Billy Graham and John MacArthur. These adult children of homeschooling parents have, in many cases, dropped totally off the spiritual radar and fallen into rank apostasy by attending non-Pharisee churches or going to non-Pharisee Bible colleges.

Bradley goes on to say:

We know we have made our family an idol when we put our hope and trust in it more than in God – we look to it rather than God for our identity and significance. And we know we look to our family for our significance when it has the most power to lift us up or to demoralize us. It is most obvious in a public setting when we either glory in our children or become enraged when they embarrass us. Our children are either the source of our pride or our disappointment, depending on whether or not they help us achieve our image of a strong family.

A great problem with idolatry is that idols require sacrifice, and we end up sacrificing relationship with our children for the idol of the family. When we elevate the image of the family, we effectively trade our children’s hearts for our reputation.
Craving a reputation for success puts great pressure on us, and then on our children– we feel quite constrained to succeed with them. If they turn out okay, then we cancredit ourselves with success, but if they struggle or fail, then we may live with guilt, embarrassment, and bitterness towards them. Many homeschool parents look at the choices made by their teen and adult children and live under a cloud of failure or resentment.
In the Christian life it is important to understand that our highest success is not measured by the effect we have upon others, but strictly by our obedience to God.

I can honestly say that this has never been a problem for me, nor should it be for other dedicated Pharisee homeschooling parents. I am deeply saddened and disappointed that Bradley has fallen for this approach. The fact that he has lost both his adult children and his favor with God by setting his family first is proof that one should never sacrifice God on the family altar. At least his concluding sentence sums up the proper approach. There are many Christians so-called who have happy, harmonious homes and healthy relationships with their adult children, but what they don't have is scriptural obedience to God since they are not members of a strict Pharisee church. Many of these "happy people" are willfully disobedient individuals who are unwilling to discipline their families into following the strict conformity required of godly Pharisee children.

Let me say for the record that God comes first in my life. My identity and significance are not derived from my family, as Bradley's was. No, my identity and significance are found in my adherence and obedience to God and his laws. In my household, family takes a back seat and God is in the front seat. If it ever came to a place where I had to choose between obeying God and loving my family, I would choose obedience to God every time. In fact, that is exactly what I had to do with my own children. One by one, each of my children left home when they were old enough and fell into wanton sin and godless apostasy by attending non-Pharisee churches and marrying non-Pharisee spouses. In every case, I refused to attend the wedding and have refused to have anything to do with my children until they repent of the error of their ways and come back pledging faithfulness to God and begging forgiveness from those they have offended. Like faithful Abraham, I was willing to offer up my own children as a sacrifice to my dedication to God. And if it ever came to a place where I would have to choose between loving my wife and remaining faithful to God, I would leave her as well. For me, obedience is everything.

Bradley also said:

I once believed and taught that a parent could follow the right biblical steps and be assured of raising children who remained faithful to God from childhood into their adult years. In fact, as a parent of young children I judged as a failure any parent whose young adult children were prodigal… It was a rude awakening for me when I saw that even the best parenting could not exempt a person from making the wrong choice when faced with temptation. I do believe that by our influence we can greatly increase the likelihood our children will love and follow Christ, but I see nothing in Scripture that guarantees well-trained children will never succumb to temptation.

And this is where I take exception to what he says. God does guarantee us parental success. However, our success is taking a stand for the truth, even when our children fail God and us. We have every right to judge others if their children are prodigal. We simply must be careful that we judge correctly. Bradley may have failed as a parent because he lacked the appropriate resolve and dedication to demand the kind of results he wanted from his children. I, on the other hand, am not a failure as a parent because I was faithful in my witness and parenting. Instead of being wishy-washy like some other parents, I maintianted a stern, unrelenting resolve to do the right thing no matter what the personal cost. The fact that my kids are off in the sin of being like the world is proof that I am successful because I remain faithful and steadfast in my devotion to God, holding them personally responsible for their own spiritual failures. A parent who goes soft and lets their heart rule the day, moved by the tears of their children to compromise their stand on the truth is the one who is standing in the greater condemnation.

Bradley warns us against judging others by our personal standards, but without those, what else do we have to judge and condemn bad parenting? He said that pride is working in us when "we sincerely believe our personal opinions reflect God's utmost priorities and standards," which is typical rhetoric for someone who is weak in their convictions and evidence of a heart that is false before God. My personal priorities and standards ARE God's priorities and standards because that is where I get them. Bradley further suggests some reasons our failed children (although he seems to think the failure is in parents) reject our standards.

a. They may learn from our example to judge others and grow up with our shallow values. If we don’t know that our values are shallow we will regard our children as virtuous and be proud of them. When our children point out to us the parenting mistakes, shortcomings, or spiritual blindness of others, do we correct them for their arrogance or do we affirm them for their “insights”? We mustn’t be pleased when our children seek our affirmation by noting the failings of other parents or children – we must direct them into an attitude of compassion and respect.
b. If they do not learn to judge others from our bad example, it may be because they fear our judgments of them. They feel they are just like the ones they hear us judge, so hide their real values from us. We mustn’t be surprised if they act like they embrace our values during their teen years, when in fact, they are simply seeking to avoid discipline and lectures. In reality they have closed off their hearts to us and will likely leave home as soon as they get the chance.
c. It is also possible that they see the shallowness of our “religion” and are not attracted to it in the least. Christianity is not a system of do’s and don’ts – it is following a wonderful Savior who gave his life for his people. A legalistic faith consisting primarily of “avoid this, wear that, and attend this” is not attractive to most children. Such children grow up full of knowledge and rules, but lack attraction for the Lord Jesus. They may identify themselves with Christ at an early age, but it is possible that the Christianity they learned from us was characterized chiefly by religious rules and doctrines. They will eventually forsake their identification with Christ because they grew up under the weight of religious standards, but lacked the grace and power to carry them out. Many such young people have forsaken “religion,” and still need to find Jesus and the grace of salvation.

What rank heresy! Since I don't have shallow values, my children cannot learn that they are shallow. He may be correct that our children fear our judgment because they are just as guilty as those we justly condemn, but to suggest that our practice of religion is shallow as a system of do's and don'ts is gross irresponsibility. If children are throwing off our list of acceptable behavior, that is a problem with their hearts, not with us. But he seems unrelenting in his attempt to lay the blame for bad children at the feet of parents. Just take a look at the monstrous heresy Bradley is trying to pass off:

For example, if we are self-validating, we may decide that since we have chosen to homeschool, anyone who won’t homeschool doesn’t love their children enough to sacrifice for them. If we are self-validating, it means that since we think we understand the true definition of modesty, anyone who doesn’t dress according to our standard is carnal, unenlightened, or has fallen away. A self-validating person is justified in their own eyes and in the eyes of those with whom they fellowship.

What is this "self-validating" nonsense? Everyone knows that parents who aren't committed enough to homeschool their children are bad parents who do not truly love their children, nor are they dedicated enough to God to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

What we believe to be our “enlightened” perspective becomes a filter by which we gauge others’ spirituality, and therefore limits our options for fellowship. We develop a very narrow definition of what we call “likeminded” people, based on the outworkings of our values and opinions. For example, if we think drums are carnal and have no place in worship, we might walk into a church and decide we cannot fellowship there if we spot drums and no organ – the drums completely discredit the church to us. Or a Bible teacher is entirely discredited in our eyes, because he does not use our preferred Bible translation, or prays with what we feel is insufficient sobriety. Or we meet someone and immediately trust their spirituality simply because they homeschool, dress to our standard, and require quick obedience of their children. It is easy for us “family-minded” people to elevate our opinions and personal convictions and make them grounds for fellowship. But are we on a path to exclusivity when we will no longer associate with those who will be with us in eternity? Is it possible we have lost sight of fellowship based on love and devotion to Jesus, and have substituted personal standards and a narrow view of Christian liberty?

And here Bradley has descended into heresy bordering on apostasy himself. Everyone knows that the way to heaven is narrow and that we SHOULD have few "likeminded" people in our fellowship. And he says if we "think" drums are carnal, as if it isn't the clear teaching scripture that drums are carnal and a sign of the Devil's music. The same is true for people who use one of Satan's books in worship other than the King James Bible. And then he closes with a double heresy. The first is to imply that exclusivity is a bad thing and the second is to suggest that there will be anyone in heaven that does not meet the high standards of godliness and holiness that we maintain.

At this point, I can only grieve at how far Bradley has fallen from the faith once delivered to the saints.

Clothesline Conformity

2006-04-29T08:31:00.000-05:00

Dear Pastor Gamaliel,

I received an article from David Cloud of the Fundamental Baptist Information Service called, "Trading Ashes for Beauty in Christian Dress." by David Kidd that I think hits the nail square on the head. The article is a composite description of Kidd's visit to a homeschool convention and his disappointment with the lax clothing standards evidenced by some Christian parents. He provides lengthy descriptions of the abominable styles that kids are wearing today and provides some much-needed commentary on the low state of Christianity today. It is an excellent article and I'd recommend you read it.

I had a similar experience to Kidd's and I would like to share some of my thoughts in parallel with his article. While Kidd attended homeschool conventions, I have been privileged to attend some pastors conferences lately and am just as shocked and appalled as Kidd by what I saw. Following, are Kidd's experiences followed by my own.

Kidd: I have visited many homeschool conventions… However, each event I attend…leaves me with burning questions: “What are we doing wrong?” “Why do so many of our young people look, act, and talk like the world?” “How can it be that we shelter our youth from public school influences, yet in language, appearance and conduct one could never tell them apart?

“How can it be?” I wondered. Here was a group of Christian homeschooling families. In addition to our common bond of faith in Jesus Christ, we also had a common bond of insulating our children from the worldly influences and a desire to raise a distinctive generation of Christian youth who will one day establish Godly homes of their own.

At least, that’s what everyone says.

In all of the preachers conferences I have attended, I find the same burning questions. "What are we doing wrong? Why do so many of our preachers and pastors look, act and talk like the world? How can it be that preachers, who are supposed to be set apart for God and sheltered from worldly influence are indistinguishable in language, appearance and conduct from the world?"

Kidd: Considering the standard of appearance and action, these (youth on the street) were no different than some in the group (of homeschoolers) I just left. Perhaps, like some in our gathering, their heart does not match the look they project, but that I could not tell from my mobile vantage point. I only know that they looked and acted the same.

When it becomes impossible on a city street to even guess which might be the lost sinner and which is probably the Christian teen, something has gone disastrously awry.

Let me tell you what I saw. At every single conference, I saw preachers – yes, preachers! – dressing just like the world. It was abominable. Why, this group of preachers was indistinguishable from any group of businessmen, politicians or lawyers. Every last one of them was dressed in a suit and looked fit to join the ranks of greedy robber barons, crooked politicians or lying lawyers. We could have droped the whole lot of them down in a joint session of congress or a meeting of the Trial Lawyers Association and we couldn't tell who was a man of God and who was a worldling, based solely on appearance.

And it wasn't just the dress, but their language as well. They were talking of budgets and attendance and expenses. Even more were talking about their church's Mission Statement and Vision, acting like the work of God was some sort of business enterprise that required a defining vision or purpose. I might as well have been at a trade show for all the spirituality that was in evidence. Some were off talking about pending legislation and how they had actually been testifying before state representatives. What concord has God with Belial in the halls of secular, godless, state government? I don't care what the cause or issue, any man of God should stay as far away from the secular trappings of government as he possibly can. They were absolutely shameless in their embracing of worldly dress, worldly conversation and worldly concerns.

It is bad enough that these supposedly godly leaders resemble the world by dressing like the world, talking like the world and acting like the world. It is clear evidence that they are comfortable in the world and are able to fit in without a single soul detecting that they are men of God. However, more disturbing than how well they fit in the world is how much of the world fits in with them. These men should be the most insulated from the world of any individuals on God's green earth, but here they were talking about every worldly concern possible. They talked about sports and their favorite teams and their favorite performers. They talked movies and what they had seen and what they liked and what they recommended(!) for their friends to watch. They talked books and popular literature and titles on the Best Seller list with a familiarity that was absolutely nauseating. They talked of government and politics and political action committees and issues and legislation as intimately as they did the Word of God.

I suppose that I should have been expected this, since pastors who dress up to resemble business tycoons are going to talk business. And pastors who dress like lawyers are going to talk litigation and the law. And pastors who dress like government officials are going to talk about politics. Why could they not dress instead like men of God and talk of godly things? Why were they so keen to look like other men their age? What evil spirit of compromise was possessing them to look and talk and sound like the world around them?

Kidd: “I do believe these people love the Lord.” “Why do so many of the children, and even some parents, look so much like the world?” “Where are the distinctive marks?” “Is it only a spirit of holiness we are after, or should there be a visible evidence of that inner spirit?” “Is purity and innocence an inner quality which may be disguised behind a worldly façade of popular fad and fashion?”

Yet today, the church and its Christian parents console themselves, mistakenly convinced that God does not care about outward appearance.

These pastors seem to think that God is only looking on their hearts and not their outward appearance. They are so wrong. How can preachers who look like lawyers, politicians and businessmen possibly convey a spirit of purity and innocence when they resemble the corruption that is in the world? These men should dress in a manner that gives visible evidence of their inward holiness. They should dress in a manner that is distinctive and separate from the world, not trying to resemble it. They should wear clothing that uniquely marks them as men set apart for a work to which God has called and sanctified them. And I am not talking about a fish pin or a tiny metal cross stuck on their lapel. They need to seriously dress according to the same standards as the people in the Bible dressed – in a manner that is as different their neighbors as they could be.

Kidd: I appeal to you for the sake of the heritage God has entrusted to you. Look at your children, especially your youth. Do they look different from the world? Look at the clothing of your daughters and ask yourself, “What message do the clothes she is wearing send?” Does your son look like an upright man of dignity and Christian character, or does he look like he stepped off the cover of a Backstreet Boys CD? What your children will be, they are now becoming.

And this is my appeal to pastors. I appeal to you to look to yourselves for the sake of the heritage God has entrusted into your care. Look at how you dress. Do you look different from the world? Look at your clothing and ask yourself, "What message do the clothes I am wearing send?" Do you look like a saint set apart for the godly business of your Heavenly Father? Or do you look like someone who stepped off the cover of GQ magazine? What you pastors will be, you are now becoming.

In His Service,

Deacon Diotrophese

The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

I Samuel 16:8 (NIV)

Autobiographical Moral Norms

2006-04-15T07:40:00.000-05:00

People ask me why I am so hard on rock music and why I make such a big deal about the dangers of contemporary Christian music. Let me share my testimony and you will see why. During my 20's God saved me by his marvelous grace out of the rock & roll culture. I was as addicted to the music as I was addicted to the drugs, the sex, the lifestyle and the wantonness. The life that I lived then was a life of profligacy, debauchery and shame and I thank God that he had saved me out of it.

A few months after my salvation, the Lord began to deal with me about rock & roll. I had no trouble giving up the drugs, the sex and the lifestyle, but I loved the music. It had become a part of my life to the point where I was even in a rock & roll band. However, because we cannot serve two masters, I had to give up rock & roll to be able to devote my entire life to God's service. It was a choice I made and it was the right one. I have no doubt that God is the One who led me to give up rock & roll. Because it was God's will for my life to abstain form rock music, I believe it is God's will for everyone else's life as well. If anyone wants to be a True Follower of God, it is absolutely necessary for them to give it up – just like me. I am certain that rock & roll is evil and that God requires every believer to give it up.

Some say to me that it isn't the music itself that is bad but the lifestyle of those involved in it. I am here to tell you that it is impossible to separate the music from the lifestyle. Christians who claim to use their godless rock music to "worship" are just as ungodly as any unsaved rock musician is. Sure, they may go to church and they may not drink and smoke and do drugs. Nor do they live in wanton sexual promiscuity and debauchery, but these are only minor incidentals. It is clear from the clothes they wear, their jewelry, their tattoos (however godly they claim them to be), and their hair cuts that they are uninterested in the things of God. Young people ought not to be deceived because these groups pray on stage as part of the concert or give the plan of salvation or even have a time of commitment and worship during their performance. These are still not enough to set them apart from the world.

Others say that just because I had a problem with rock music doesn't mean that everyone has a problem with it. They point to the millions of Christian young people who listen to contemporary Christian rock who have never done drugs, never lost their virginity, and are faithful in church attendance. I am here to tell you that it is all a sham. No matter how righteous a person might be in other areas of their lives, if they permit even the tiniest amount of rock music to pollute their souls, they are guilty of breaking the whole law. Nor does it matter no matter how Christian the lyrics are, as long as they are listening to that rock beat, it is ungodly. Even the devil quoted scripture when he tempted Jesus, so godly lyrics don't make the music godly.

My primary purpose as a Pharisee pastor of one of God's Pharisee churches is to guard the flock from evil. God has allowed me to experience the ugly side of sin so I can prevent others from suffering the same sorrow and shame I have. My experience and God's call to the ministry give me the authority to discern right from wrong, not just for my life, but also the lives of everyone else. Simply put, my personal moral failures and weaknesses are a warning to all that they run the risk of falling into the same sins if they don't practice the same spiritual disciplines and personal separation that I practice.

Because I had a problem with certain sins in my past, I condemn everything associated with those sins. Some foolish critics point out that I don't preach against polyester leisure suits even though they were associated with the debauchery of disco. This is absolutely idiotic. When I was in Bible College during the 1970's, we all wore leisure suits and we did not frequent discos. Clearly, leisure suits are not associated with evil because I personally did not conduct myself in an evil way when I was wearing those clothes. To put it bluntly, my wearing of leisure suits in college sanctified them for God's use and it was a perversion of worldly people who used them to evil ends, not the evil of the suits themselves.

However, worldly Christians who feel that they can sanctify rock music for the cause of Christ are in grave error. Everything about rock and roll is wrong and immoral. They should take my word on that because I am a godly person, led by God and since He led me out of rock & roll; it is clearly His will that I should lead everyone else out of rock and roll. My spiritual experience forms the norm for how all godly people should live. If it is a godly practice for me to give up rock music, then it is a godly practice for everyone else, and if they don't live as I do then they are out of God's will.

Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.
Colossians 2:18-23 (NIV)

Legalistic Hypocrites and Hypocritical Legalists

2006-04-10T12:16:00.000-05:00

I don't know how many times I have been called a legalist simply because I believe in setting standards of decency and decorum for church attendees and workers. I am fed up with these slanderous and hypocritical accusations. Let me state for the record that I do not have a problem with legalism because I am not a legalist. And people who accuse me of such are hypocrites because they want to apply their standard of legalism to my expression of the Christian faith. What they really object to is how I tell them they are wrong for holding to the error of their ways, but they have no objection to telling me that I am wrong. If this is not the height of hypocrisy, I don't know what is. Truth be told, I never make personal, slanderous accusations about them. I only point out the Truth of God's Word, while they levy ad hominem attacks against me of a very personal nature even to the point of questioning my very salvation. Of course, most of my critics are unsaved to begin with, but if they were, I would never question their personal relationship to God as they do mine.

Let me start by making a comparison. I believe and practice that people who come to our church to serve and worship should dress like Christians. My critics say that I have set up a standard that is not biblical and so end up being a legalist. Well, let me ask this – would they allow someone to attend worship or serve in their church dressed in a bikini? If they wouldn't, then why not? I will tell you. It is because they have standards of dress for their worshippers and worship leaders. So, it is not a matter of my having standards, it is a matter that my standards do not suit them. Everybody has standards - minimum expectations of dress and behavior. It is clear that by comparing my standards to their standards that mine are higher. They admit this themselves. But for some reason, they view my higher standards as being "legalistic" but they don't view their standards which are much lower (and would have the same effect of denying a bikini-clad woman a place in the church choir) as being just as legalistic. If anything, they should be ashamed that they take such a low view of God and worship of Him as to allow clothes in the congregation that they would never allow in the workplace or school.

The error of their low form of legalism, which criticizes my high form of legalism, is that it allows them to offend those who are weaker in the faith and in so doing, to condemn them to God's displeasure. If someone sees them exercising their "Christian liberty" and decides, based on watching the Christian libertines, that they can exercise the same liberty, then the weaker brother is under the condemnation of God. These weak Christians are using substandard Christians as spiritual leaders to set the standard for their behavior before God. If leaders set a low standard, then their followers are going to miss out on God's good pleasure. Even worse, these weaker brethren are basing their decisions about practical spirituality on what they see others do, rather than on what they see God revealing through His Word. This is not of faith and therefore it is sin. Everyone should be using the Bible as their Sole Rule of Faith and Practice which, if properly read, understood and followed, will lead them to adopt the same standards we have adopted. So these lower level legalist brothers are twice condemned – once for practicing a low form of spirituality and once again for leading weaker Christians to join them in their shoddy, slovenly, sloppy practice of Christianity.

I believe that my critics have a lower form of spirituality because they lack the necessary personal resolve to abide by my higher standard of Christian conduct. They are tempted by the worldly allure of Contemporary Christian Music. They are drawn away of their own lusts and enticed to dress in immodest attire and excite the passions of others. They are attracted by the pride of life that craves peer acceptance in a sin-cursed world so they can be thought of as "cool" instead of Sold Out for Jesus. I am not tempted by any of these – the lust of the eyes (or ears), lust of the flesh or pride of life – because of my steadfast resolve to live a godly life. If they would simply devote themselves to living out the Gospel by applying higher standards to their lives, then they would enjoy God's favor like I do.

My critics would argue that I create extra-biblical standards but this is not true. First of all, there is no biblical standard that says people can't wear bikinis to church, yet they themselves don't allow such practice. So if the standard is extra-biblical for me, it is just as extra-biblical for them. The truth is that every standard we set is based on the Bible and biblical discernment that comes from rightly dividing the Word of God. The Bible doesn't list every possible sin which we could commit. Instead it gives us principles that apply to our daily lives across cultural boundaries. Modest dress is modest no matter what culture we are in. Godly music is honoring to God no matter what culture in which t is played. To the ignorant it may appear we are adding to the Bible but to the spiritually discerning, it is a godly interpretation of the rules set forth in the Bible.

"The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.”
Matthew 23:2-3 (NIV)

Where Have All The Heroes Gone?

2006-04-09T14:59:00.000-05:00

I received a letter in the mail a few weeks ago from a woman whose husband had been a long-time subscriber to my monthly newsletter, The Fundamental Pharisee. She noticed that I often quoted from the writers of old, divines of the past who were able to set down the truth once delivered to the saints. She suggested that I print the biographical information of the authors at the end of the article so my readers would learn more about the men who wrote the articles. I thought this might be a good idea until I got to the end of her letter where she said, "That way when people read your editorials, they can see how you praise the writers of the past who were great men of the denominations that you crucify today." She then went on to accuse me of hypocrisy for reading writers of the past who, if they were alive, would be the subject of the kind of harsh criticism I heap on heretical humanistic heathens in today's pulpits.

What this deluded woman does not know is that in the past denominations used to be much truer to the Biblical faith than they are today. In the past, many denominations held to the truths that have been historic Pharisee doctrines down through the ages. However, with the rise of so much apostasy and declension from the faith, there aren't any non-Pharisee churches today that retain even a little of their fathers' truth. They are so far off the mark that they should be ashamed to wear the name Christian. Most non-Pharisee denominations use worldly music in their "worship" services, read from modern per-versions of the Bible, dress so casually that they cannot possibly be in any state to worship and are so concerned with worldly popularity that they are designing their services to appeal to "seekers" rather than designing them to be appealing to God.

The sad truth about the writers of old is that that they are probably more popular in our day than they were in their own. There was just as much resistance against the truth in the old days as there is today. People rarely tolerated having their sins pointed out or their faults exposed so many of these great men of the faith were ignored, reviled or persecuted during their lives. Some were imprisoned, some were banished, some were killed for their strict attention to a faithful rendering of the word. How I wish that I could have lived during their day, for if I had been able to sit at their feet, I would have praised them for their steadfast devotion to the Truth of God's word.

Today, many have left the faith once delivered to the saints. All we can do is praise the accomplishments of our predecessors and admire their perseverance in the face of difficult circumstances and under hardship conditions. Oh, that we had such men today. There are a number of people on the radio and TV who sound good at first, but it doesn't take long to hear how they have slipped away from a strict adherence to the Word of God. Men like John MacArthur, John Piper, R. C. Sproul and many others seemed to start out well, but sooner or later departed into liberalism and softness toward the historic truths of Christianity. That is why I work so hard to expose their errors, their problems, their leaving of the faith. I support the work of those who publish the errors of those who would delude the sheep and long for more men of good faith as we had in the past.

"Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your forefathers who killed them. So you testify that you approve of what your forefathers did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs."
Luke 11:47-48 (NIV)

Checklist

2005-11-06T21:58:00.000-05:00

For those of you who are working hard to be a better Pharisee, I’m attaching a checklist for you to self-evaluate your progress.

How do you relate to other Christians who are making their way toward Heaven?

I condemn their feeble attempts at living the Christian life and weigh them down with a lengthy checklist of items to make them spiritual.
I speak authoritatively to them on how best to live the Christian life, advising them where they have erred and instructing them in how they can improve.
I respect them as they practice their faith and try very hard not to be judgmental when they fail to measure up to my expectations.
I often help carry those who are weak in the faith with a compassionate concern and provide consistent encouragement during their missteps along the way.

How hard are you willing to work in order to maintain a Christian appearance?

I work extra had to appear far more religious than those around me.
I’m not a fanatic but I make sure that everyone knows I’m a church-goer.
I don’t make a big deal of my appearance but trust that my impeccably godly life will testify to my holiness.
I don’t give any attention at all to my appearance and am genuinely surprised and more than a little puzzled by the comments of others when they complement me on my Christ-like character.

How much importance do you place on your appearance?

I make sure that everyone knows how spiritual I am and delight in the public praise and adulation of those who see me for the deserving Christian I am.
If there is no opportunity that I am going to be recognized for my efforts at being a godly Christian, I won’t even waste my time with it.
I don’t go out of my way to draw attention to myself or make a big fuss, but I feel grateful when others notice my efforts and a bit disappointed if they don’t (but I try not to let it show).
I generally discourage others from drawing attention to anything I do.

How proud are you to be a Christian?

I own every T-shirt, ball cap, refrigerator magent and bumper sticker with a Christian logo or saying that I can lay my hands on so everyone knows exactly where I stand.
I still wear my WWJD bracelet.
I don’t brag about being a Christian or announce it to others but take a smug pride in knowing that I’m more spiritual than the average person.
I am honestly baffled and humbled as to why a holy God would send His son to die for me.

How exclusive are you and how do you relate to those in error?

I condemn their feeble attempts at living the Christian life and like to burden them with a lengthy checklist of items to improve their spiritual health.
I speak authoritatively to them on how best to live the Christian life, advising them where they have erred and instructing them in how they can improve.
I respect them as they practice their faith and try very hard not to be judgmental when they fail to measure up to my expectations.
I often help carry those who are weak in the faith with a compassionate concern and provide consistent encouragement during their missteps along the way.

How merciful are you?

I thank God every day that I am not in the sorry state as all those poor lost sinners and trust that God in all his holy justice will treat them as they deserve.
I say, “But for the grace of God, there go I,” and feel genuinely sorry that they have not been as mercifully saved by God
I earnestly pray for those who are more unfortunate that I am and wish someone would do something to help the plight of those poor, suffering people.
I give them what they need from what I have whether they need food, clothing or shelter.

How personally evangelistic are you?

I actively work to convince other Christians within our denomination that they are in the wrong church and that they need to join our particular brand of church if they want to be right with the Lord.
I spend most of my time looking for new Christians in other denominations since they are apostate and people need to be rescued from them. While I recognize that there are a variety of beliefs in our denomination, I don’t think our churches are apostate and I generally don’t recruit members from other churches in our denomination.
I think it’s despicable the way some people only recruit other Christians so I do most of my personal evangelism among respectable people who are lost but, in my opinion, will make good church members if they were to get saved.
I reach out to the fallen, poor, wicked and those whom most would consider the “scum of the earth” to find the most likely candidates for new members.

How closely do people have to resemble you in worship style and expression of their faith in order to be right with God?

Every single jot and tittle has to fall exactly in line with what I believe and practice in order for them to be right with God.
I am satisfied that as long as they are in the same denomination as me, they are pretty close to being right with God.
If they ascribe to a basic core of beliefs and traditions similar to mine, then they are close to being right with God even if they are not the same denomination as me.
I don’t believe that I should lay any greater cultural burden on them than to follow the teachings of scripture expressed through the cultural context in which they find themselves

Keeping Up Appearances

2005-10-29T15:43:00.000-05:00

Apparently my recent post on worldly dress has sparked a good bit of online discussion. I had no idea that clothing was such a controversial topic. The Bible is very plain that Christians should not dress like the world. We may be in the world but we should certainly not be of the world and this includes our dress. However, there seems to be some dispute as to where we need to draw the line between worldly dress and godly dress. Let me quote from a formerly respected Pharisee pastor, Telemachus J. Dobson. Telemachus and I both attended Grace Pharisee Bible College together and have had many a discussion, some quite heated, but he has become a legalistic Sadducee in recent years as you can see for yourself.

It has recently come to my attention, Pharisee Brethren, that our brother Gamaliel, he who would hold himself up as an icon for the next generation of Pharisee ministry; is becoming a bondslave...not of Jesus, but of fashion!

A recent missive reveals his fixation on worldly dress, claiming that "the real Pharisee preacher must dress for success" as a "witness" to the "worldly undressed". After all, God made man in his own image, and that image does not necessarily come dressed in Louis Vuitton suits with Bruno Magli loafers. A true Pharisee would be fully aware that Jesus would shop with the "least of these"...at K-Mart!

But no, our fine brother Gamaliel would leave the ninety and nine...for the sheep who takes his marching orders from GQ!

Know ye not that the necktie was invented as a bib for the mature to wipe their mouths after a good potluck? But no, we must have them as adornment! And instead of at least getting our neckties from the gift counter at Pharisee Family Shops, the nice ones with a "Christian design for $8.99", our compromising brother was actually photographed wearing a Christmas necktie featuring cartoon characters caterwauling Christmas Carols about the conception of Christ! Blasphemy!

Men and brethren, if you can't do a single-color tie or at the very least stripes, it is vanity! We are to be a peculiar people, not the foolish fellow travelers of the fashionistas!

Telemachus J Dobson
Riverbend Pharisee Mission
Illinois

What this dear brother does not realize is that by dressing in shoddy clothes purchased at bargain basement prices off the rack, he is giving less than his best to God. The Old Testament teaches us that we should bring the firstlings of our flock to the Lord, not the halt, the lame, the second-hand and the cast-offs. God deserves our best and that includes dressing in the best clothes that we can afford. For those of us who are truly spiritual, we dress even better than we can afford, showing our dedication to sacrificial giving on God’s behalf.

But before I could respond to Telemachus and explain to him that he was dishonoring God by dressing like a bum, the discussion spun out of hand. I wanted to let him know how much of a Sadducee he was for judging my desire to give God my best when I received this.

Blessings on the upright, and imprecations on all pretenders to our blessed position! May all recognize our purity.I call on all sisters to unite in outrage and distain. Kmart indeed! Bro. Telemachus, how great is your fall! What of the homespun, and the fruits of your sisters and mothers' nimble and capable fingers? What of the industry and perseverance of your ancestors? Are you better than they? Come back to your roots, down to proper humility, kind sir, that you may be truly lifted up as an example to the godly.

PS: if you must indeed frequent that paragon of vanity fair, don't forget to check your clothes for any hint of that awful subterfuge - synthetic fiber. If it ain't natural how can it possibly be true? And if it ain't true then guile will be found on your person.Oh take care as you teeter on the brink, do not go round the bend!

Miss Ida Seenit
Secretary
Society of Saintly Sisters

And I knew the conversation had totally spun out of control when some clown sent this in.

"Let me see, I need some new clothing, but I dare not get any modern worldly threads. I'll try this store. Hello Miss, I need some material, but I'm wondering how old is the loom that it was woven on? You don't know? Well, do you know if the thread came from this world? I need something that is holy, in other words not from this world. You don't have anything like that? Hmmm, I guess I'd better go see some Pharisee to see where they buy their clothes."

Some people have no appreciation for how hard it is to live a holy, godly life.

Appearance is Everything

2005-10-25T14:50:00.000-05:00

The greatest danger facing God’s True Churches today is doctrinal compromise. Today’s sotted saints are selling out their allegiance to the timeless truths of God’s word for a mess of pottage and their chief salesman is Rick Warren. His Saddleback Church in California is leading thousands astray by their false teachings and lackadaisical attitude toward Biblical integrity. Nowhere is this seen more clearly than in their casual attitude toward dress.

Let me say, first of all that God cares a great deal about how His people dress. To teach anything different is to give in to the devil’s teaching that “Jesus looks on the heart and not on the outward appearance.” Just because Jesus can see our hearts, doesn’t mean that he ignores what he sees on the outside. It is also because we can’t see the heart that we need to pay particular attention to outward appearance. While it is possible for a worldling to dress like a saint and appear outwardly to be holy, we should never think that it is possible for a saint of God to appear outwardly unholy while remaining right with God in his heart. Outward appearance is how we advertise our allegiance to God and demonstrate to the world that we are holier than they are.

So let us see what the Bible has to say about how we dress. You will find that the Levites received particular instructions in how to dress at the hands of Moses (Leviticus 21). They were told exactly what to wear and they were given individual instruction depending on whether they were the high priest or the regular Levites. God also instructed the nation of Israel on particulars regarding their clothing, including putting fringes on their garments and making sure not to mix fabrics like wool and linen in a single garment (Deuteronomy 22:11-12).

By contrast, Rick Warren has made worship so casual that folks come to his church in shorts, jeans and t-shirts rather than suits, ties and dresses like they ought to. And no wonder, for they are merely following the example of their pastor who preaches in Hawaiian shirts and khaki pants. He is more suited to a California beach than he is a California pulpit. He has no respect for the church, the pulpit or the ministry. Everything about his style is casual and comfortable. Someone who takes such an informal attitude toward worship cannot possibly please God.

As proof of God’s disapproval we see that his church is one of the largest and fastest growing congregations in America today. We all know that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked and that apart from the drawing of the Holy Spirit, none can come unto Him. This is why good Pharisee churches remain small – we appeal only to the elect, the sacred remnant, the few who have made their way through the narrow gate. The explosive growth of Saddleback demonstrates that they appeal to the carnal pleasures of the flesh, not the holiness of the spirit. They attract big crowds because people are more interested in satisfying their own desires than in pleasing God. Nor can Rick Warren possibly be preaching the truth since we know that worldly people are not attracted to truth (my church being a clear case in point) and his church is full of people who dress like the world.

His argument for casual dress is that worship doesn’t have to be uncomfortable to be pleasing to God. Let me just say that if God had wanted us to be comfortable in His presence he would have given us a comforter instead of the Holy Spirit of his presence who comes to judge the righteous and the unrighteous alike. God abhors complacency and compromise with the world, demanding instead a separation from the world and a holiness that raises us out of the mire of humanity. We are called to be heavenly minded in spirit and truth and this includes the spirit and truth of how we dress. We know that we will not be spending eternity in heaven dressed in jeans and t-shirts with cute slogans on them but will be arrayed in robes of fine linen signifying of our purity. It is time we started dressing as the heaven-bound saints that we are called to be and not like the world around us.

Gamaliel The Sadducee

2005-10-22T12:16:00.000-05:00

Dudes!

Howzit goin?

Gamaliel isn’t gonna be posting this week because I hacked into his site to let y’all know how big a Sadducee the G-man really is. See, I went to visit his church last week and thot I would tell what happened. It was an eye-opener.

So I go into this church cuz they have a sign out front that sez “Everyone Welcome.” Well “everyone” must not mean everyone since I wasn’t. This big old dude comes up to me in the foyer and sez, “Can I help you, son?” He was definitely not my Daddy so I wasn’t about to be up with that “son” bizzness, so I told him I was there to go to church, did he have a problem with that? And he cops this ‘tude like he’s all better than me by asking if there’s somewhere else I could go where I’d be more comfterble. “I dunno,” I said, “Am I supposed to be comfterble in church?” He sez he don’t want no trouble and I told him I didn’t either So, like, he leaves me alone and I find a seat.

Now, if a church sez, “Everyone Welcome” on the sign, you’d ‘spect they’d make you feel glad to be there, right? Well, not at Gamaliel’s church. The only people that made me feel welcome were the kids and not all of them. This one cool kid comes up to me (I knew he was cool cuz you could see where he had his ears piecred but he took all his posts out and stuff for church) and sez, “Nice tat,” looking at my arm that shows three nails circled by a crown of thorns and “John 3:16” under it. “That’s nothing. Look at this one,” and I show him my other arm with a sword that says, “Behold I Come Quickly” on it when his mom tells him not to talk to strangers. He gives me wink and I smile, but his mom looks like she was sucking lemons.

And then we go through the whole service and no one else comes up to say hi or shake my hand or nothing. And then it turns out that the big scary dude I had already met was pastor Gamaliel. And like he preaches this sermon about “separation” and how we need to not be like the world and need to live for God and I’m all about that but when I say, “Amen,” like in my old church you’d think I’d swore or something. Everybody gets all stiff and uncomfterble and everything so I don’t say that any more.

So when the service gets over and we’re on the way out, I shake hands with the G-man to tell him I was down with his sermon but he acted like he wasn’t cool with me. So I ask him wassup with that. And he sez he thinks I’m a fine young man but I’m not a very good representative of Jesus Christ, which is not a cool thing to say to anyone. So we get into it right there in the foyer.

“How can you say that, dude? You don’t even know me,” I tell him.

“I know a great deal about you already, just by looking,” he sez.

“What? You judge by appearance? Whassup with that? Doesn’t the Bible tell you not to do that?”

“I did not judge you,” he sez. “I merely drew a conclusion based on the message you are sending me with how you look. You are saying that you are a rebel and a worldling and that you want to have nothing but the most superficial of relationships with Jesus Christ.”

“You could tell all that just by looking, could you? Well let me tell you something. You are a pompous, judgmental Sadducee who looks down his nose at people. If we don’t look like you and talk like you then you don’t want anything to do with us. Just because I’m wearing leather and you got a suit doesn’t mean you’re better than me. So chill out, dude and get a grip. That ain’t what Jesus is about.”

“I don’t need to you inform me about Jesus,” he said in a voice cold as ice. By now we had quite the crowd gathered around. “I have been a follower of Him all my life and real Christians do not get tattoos, or all those piercings you have or listen to that godless rock and roll music. You are trying to resemble the world and not Jesus Christ.”

“So, like people in the world don’t wear three-piece suits? Gimme a break. The biggest crooks and thieves and liars I know dress like you and sit in boardrooms, lawyer’s offices and government. Is that who Jesus wants you to dress like?

“At least I’m not a big hypocrite like you. You preached today about love and grace but all you’re giving me is grief. You said Jesus loves us all but you don’t want anything to do with people like me because we don’t fit your nice, neat definition of what a Christian is. Your last song was, ‘Just As I Am’ but there’s no way you want to accept me just as I am. You only want to accept me just as you are. That’s not cool.”

And that’s why I am hacking into the site – to let y’all know that Gamaliel is a big ole hypocrite. He’s always preaching love and grace but he doesn’t practice it. He only loves people who are like him or fit his opinion of what a Christian is. Anyone outside his comfort zone is just so much trash to him. As far as I’m concerned he is nothing but a big Sadducee who wants to just judge people. He is cold-hearted, mean-spirited and as far from what it means to be a Christian as you can be.

My advice is to not bother attend his church because Jesus certainly doesn’t.

The Anti-Sadducee

The Soon Return of Jesus

2005-10-02T18:15:00.000-05:00

The Bible tells us in no uncertain terms that we cannot know the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man will come again. Many a minister has made a career on date-setting only to be shown how wrong he really is when Jesus doesn’t come. There has been a long history from the time of Savonarola and Muntzer all the way down through Hal Lindsay and Y2K. You can find a fairly comprehensive list at http://www.bible.ca/pre-date-setters.htm From my past there are a couple charlatans who stand out as particularly noteworthy.

Jack Van Impe has been predicting the end of the world ever since I can remember. I attended a crusade in the early 1970’s where he predicted The Coming War With Russia.
His message was so well rehearsed that he preached the exact same sermon in person that we had heard on a record album of the same title. According to Van Impe, by 1990 we were supposed to see Russia march on Jerusalem closely followed by the Red Chinese who were going to march across the dry riverbed of the Euphrates because of some hydroelectric dams the Iraqis were building. Aside from the fact that history never happened the way he predicted, he hasn’t stopped his misguided prophecy ministry. He continues to “foretell” future events and gullible Christians continue to support his half-baked claims and outright fictions.

Later I heard Ed Vallowe, famous for his Bible numerics, predict Jesus’ return. He should have stuck with finding hidden messages in Bible numbers and codes instead of jumping on the apocalyptic bandwagon. Somewhere he latched on to the “Jupiter Effect” as the signal for the next prophetic event on God’s calendar. He predicted that we were going up in the clouds in 1982 when all the planets lined up and cataclysmic events would shake the earth. Curiously, when I heard him speak in 1981, he mentioned that he was booked through 1983. I guess he wanted to make sure his bases were covered in case he was wrong. Good planning on his part.

Since then I have heard that there were 88 reasons why Jesus is coming in 1988, why the Gulf War of George H. W. Bush was going to be the end in the early 1990’s and of course, everyone’s favorite Y2K. None of these came to pass. All of them were false predictions made by ignorant men who refused to accept that Jesus second coming is secret except to those who can spot the budding of the fig tree and can read the signs of the times.

Unlike all of these charlatans, I have scientific evidence that the world is going to end on June 1, 2014. That means that if the rapture is pre-tribulation as we all know it to be, then it must occur on or before May 31, 2007. Now I am not about to set a date, but it is clear that Jesus must come by then in order to give the Beast a chance to fill up the cup of God’s wrath.

This gives all of us a year and a half to take care of everything before His return. My suggestion to all of you is that you make sure all your affairs are in order in the next year to be ready for Jesus when He comes. Now, this is not to say that I am predicting a date. I am not. The Bible tells us that no man can know the day or the hour and I don’t presume to know that. He may come this week, next week, next month or next year. However, we can know the season and with the fig tree budding, I do know for certain that he is coming no later than May 31, 2007.

Personally, if I owned any property, I would sell it now or if I had a retirement fund I would cash it in and spend it. I can’t guarantee that Jesus is coming on this date, but even if he doesn’t then we still have only seven more years before the cloud gets us. We might as well live for today because tomorrow is unlikely to come.

The Hand Of God

2005-09-23T12:18:00.000-05:00

The same God that rained down fire on Sodom and Gomorrah because of their evil, wicked lewdness is still raining down his wrath on this world today. Two weeks ago hurricane Katrina roared down on the cesspool of sexual immorality, drunkenness, thefts, murders, homosexuality and heathenism that make up that foul place known as New Orleans. It is a den of pagan witchery, debauchery and godlessness. The only thing more amazing than God’s watery judgment is the fact that he waited so long to bring it to pass. However, the Bible assures us that God endures with much longsuffering the deeds of the wicked, not willing that any of his elect should perish. I suppose the only thing restraining God’s hand up to this point were the few just persons whose righteous souls, like Lot, were vexed with the wickedness every day and God had to wait until they were safely out of the way before he could rain down his fury on them.

There are some Christians who question whether Katrina was really a sign of God’s wrath or just a chance natural disaster. One of the objections I hear is that if God was really serious about wiping out wickedness he would have hit Las Vegas instead of New Orleans. What these people don’t understand is that God has a cup of wrath and he does not pour it out until it is full. Las Vegas has only been a hotbed of vice and corruption for less than a century, not even coming into the full depth of its perversion and rottenness until around World War II. New Orleans, by contrast, has been a haven for witches, pirates, gamblers and prostitutes almost from its inception. Clearly, the city had plenty of time and more wicked people working to fill up God’s cup of wrath beyond the brim than Las Vegas. Give that town a little more time and surely God will find a way to bring it low too.

Other Christians argue that there were godly people still in New Orleans who were equally victims of the hurricane as the godless heathen. How can we say it’s God’s judgment, they ask, when so many good people suffered as well? They point to the devastation of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS) as an example of a godly institution not being spared the destruction of the wicked. First of all, I question whether this liberal seminary under the auspices of the Southern Baptist Convention is really a godly institution. They have compromised the truth of God’s word by embracing Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Church philosophy and succumbing to the siren song of the Church Growth movement. Beyond that, they had no business setting up a theological seminary in such a wicked place as New Orleans. There are plenty of cities where they should have established themselves so that young Christians would not be tempted by the allures of Satan. They need a place where they can concentrate on their studies without worldly distractions like Pensacola, Florida; Greenville, South Carolina; or Lynchburg, Virginia.

Most of my critics, however, point to hurricane Rita as “proof” that these disasters are mindless acts of nature rather than the divine hand of God. They say that it rains on the just and the unjust alike. Since Texas is populated with one of the highest concentrations of Pharisee churches in the country, this seems to indicate that God isn’t punishing people through the hurricanes after all. While I might agree with them that God isn’t punishing everyone through these hurricanes, it is clear to me that these folks have an oversimplified view of God and need to improve their understanding of the divine imperatives.

Hurricane Rita is no more a punishment from God than any other natural disaster. If anything, it is a test for true believers to improve their faith. Possibly, it may be the chastening hand of God on some churches for their flirtations with the New Evangelicalism and the Church Growth Movement but most sound Pharisee churches know better than to mess with these liberalizing influences. More likely this is God’s way of testing our resilience to see if we will indeed remain faithful in the face of adversity. So if God does rain on the just and the unjust alike, we need to be able to distinguish His purpose in the rain. Katrina is God’s wrath falling on the ungodly and Rita is God’s test of his faithful servants. Only a simpleton could mistake one for the other.

Appealing to the Flesh

2005-09-05T22:19:00.000-05:00

Modern worship has moved from the realm of exhortation and admonishment to entertainment. These “productions” include worldly music, instruments and sound systems. Kim Smith has written an excellent book called Oh, Be Careful Little Ears: Contemporary Christian Music that warns of the dangers of allowing modern music into our midst. As if this isn’t bad enough churches have started to include drama as part of their morning worship and even scheduled special services around their dramatic productions. Technology has enabled them to use presentation media to bring movies into the church along with the tools of the world such as PowerPoint to “facilitate” worship. If you ask me, it is all an appeal to the flesh.

As you know, our church has eliminated any vestiges of fleshly appeal from our worship services. We have no professional musicians performing and if there were any in our midst, they certainly wouldn’t be welcome. Our instrumental accompaniment is restricted to only godly instruments like piano and organ. We don’t sing any songs that are less than 25 years old and you won’t hear very many songs that are less than 50 years old. We make no concessions to modernity in any form with the exception of an excellent sound system for proclaiming and recording my sermons.

But I fear that we still have an area which is a blatant appeal to the flesh. The fact that this has remained one of the traditional staples of our Pharisee denominational heritage makes it no less carnal. I know that I am treading on dangerous ground here and run the risk of offending my fellow Pharisee preachers, but if we are going to be consistent in our walk, we need to make sure that our standards apply to every aspect of our worship. What might that be, you ask? It is the traditional carry-in dinner. Using the same line of reasoning found in “Biblical Guidelines for Christian Music” I will show how our church is removing all fleshly appeal from our carry-in dinners.

First of all, our meals are designed to glorify Jesus Christ. Any cooking that glorifies either the cook or the attractive presentation is an abomination to God. That is not to say that our dinners are unattractive or unappealing, but that we make no effort to glorify those who prepare and present the food. We may thank the ladies for their effort but never single any of them out for praise. Instead, all the glory for the food goes back to God.

Christian food is for the Lord, not the world. As Christians we should not have the same tastes as those who are still mired in worldliness. The world in fact finds our food unappetizing, unappealing and unattractive but the spiritual Christians know that we are cooking for the Lord’s benefit, not our own. If the world finds our meals pleasing, attractive and delightful in their own right, then we have succumbed to a fleshly appeal that is dishonoring to God. Godly churches serve food that only Christians appreciate, not the unregenerate.

Christian food is new food, not old food. Anyone who looks to a worldly cookbook to find food to feed Christian bodies is just as bad as someone who uses worldly songs to feed the soul. We should look strictly to the Bible for our ingredients and recipes. If it isn’t found in the Bible, then we shouldn’t include it in our cooking.

Christian food should be clear and easy to understand rather than vague and deceptive. Pate de fois gras may be fine for those fancy dinners hosted by worldlings, but Christians should be content to call it what it is – smashed goose liver. Better yet, if it is something the world is likely to serve, then we shouldn’t put it on the Lord’s table.

Christian food should emphasize the message of the gospel, not the food itself or the cook. Hot cross buns are a clear testimony to the risen savior but a Waldorf salad is a testimony to a carnal hotel. And if one is going to serve fried chicken, it better not come in a red and white cardboard bucket.

The food we serve should be suitable only for church rather than something one would find in fine restaurants or served by professional caterers. Our food should appear strictly in a Christian setting, and should never be comfortable in the world. This is one of the ways we ensure that our food remains holy food – it is only used in service to God. Holy food, just like holy music, is that which is dedicated solely to God and does not serve a common or mundane purpose.

Christian food should feed the soul and not the flesh. Our meals should be primarily to uplift the spirit, not the body. Any nutritional value or enjoyment should be incidental to the main purpose of bringing our lives into conformity with Christ. Our dinners should be dedicated to the Lord – not to the world.

Those of you who want to be truly spiritual will follow the lead of our church in making sure that you dedicate your church’s dinners to the Lord and eliminating any appeal to the flesh from your feasting together. Remember, it could be something as simple as a salt shaker that sets you on the path back toward carnality and lasciviousness.

Loving the Sinner - Part II

2005-08-28T08:39:00.000-05:00

Last week I talked about loving the sinner enough to correctly diagnose what was ailing him. This week I would like to address the next issue – proceeding with the treatment. There are many a medical assistant to the Great Physician out there who are unerring in their diagnosis and courageous enough to confront those with spiritual ailments but falter when it comes to treatment and long term care of God’s patients. It is a truly skilled practitioner of spiritual medicine who is capable of treating what is ailing the sin-sick soul.

Whenever I find a soul infected by worldliness, bound by carnality, weakened by a lack of devotion, I rush to administer aid. Just like a paramedic responds instantly in the event of an emergency, I am not slack to curse the darkness whenever I see it. And once I have discovered the source of spiritual malady, I quickly administer the proper remedy or medical treatment to heal the infected soul. This is by far the most difficult part of my role as a medical assistant to the Great Physician. Many people are unwilling to take their medicine and rescue themselves from their fatal condition. And no wonder, for often it is a bitter pill to swallow, however necessary it may be.

Spiritual medicine has the curious effect of either curing or killing the intended recipient. For those who respond well to guilt, shame, browbeating and public calls for repentance, the medicine may taste awful going down but afterward yields the peaceable fruit of healing. Conversely, those who stop their ears at rebuke and refuse to listen to open condemnation of their sinful lifestyles regarding the clothes they wear, the music they listen to, the amusements they frequent and the non-church friends they insist on keeping find themselves with no ease for their predicament. Whether they admit it or not, their doom is sealed by their refusal to heed my advice. Fortunately, most of these fatally ill people (I dare not call them Christian because of their obvious affection for sin) leave the church and do so in a huff. Some members are grieved by their departure but I reassure my congregation that their continued presence would only serve to infect other susceptible souls with their carnality and worldliness.

Unfortunately, there are too few ministers of the gospel like me who are willing to diagnose and treat spiritual disease. Those who refuse to come to church every time the doors are open, who give less than 10% of their gross, who read their Bibles less than one hour every day, who never witness to the lost about their salvation fill those other churches. They serve as a source of contagion for the good people I pastor. The young people in my church have to struggle every week to refuse the invitations of their friends who attend worldly church to go to movies or “Youth Night” at non-scriptural churches where they play that godless contemporary Christian music. So the responsibility falls on me to protect my people from their corrupting influence.

My recourse is quarantine. Much as I would like to, I cannot quarantine the spiritually ill who fill the world from us godly Christians so I resort to the next best thing – I quarantine our church. Just like the “Boy in the Plastic Bubble,” I maintain a constant vigilance against any potential infectious agent by isolating my people from the outside world. I preach against television and many in my church have gotten rid of theirs. And those who still have sets, I forbid them to have cable TV. I also preach against VCR and DVD players because the only thing available on them are either worldly amusements or the presentations of heretical and damnable heresies like Veggie Tales and Adventures in Odyssey which promote liberal Christian values. I encourage them to have only Christian friends and avoid as much contact with the world as possible. We must be in the world but we should not be of the world. Indeed, the main thrust of my ministry is to constantly warn the congregation every Sunday about the evil that is out there in the world that goes under the guise of Christianity hoping to deceive if it were possible the very elect.

Regretfully, I can’t save all of my patients. To be honest, I haven’t saved very many. But God has never required that I be successful, only that I remain faithful. I may not be able to reach very many with the pure, unadulterated, Gospel but those I do reach can rest secure in their knowledge that they will make it to heaven. My job, however thankless and unappreciated it is by the mass of those who erroneously call themselves Christian, is to save the remnant that God has trusted into my hand. If I can succeed in preventing even a single soul from joining the wrong kind of church, from engaging in worldly pursuits, from listening to ungodly music, from worshipping in a style not in conformity with our tradition, then my work

Loving Sinners - Part I

2005-08-14T20:40:00.000-05:00

I have been criticized by weak-willed "politically correct" compromisers of the Truth for not being "loving toward sinners." This is nothing new and I have been putting up with their whining for decades, but I thought I would devote a few columns to the topic of what it means to truly love the sinner. What they call lacking in love, I correctly point out as failing to take a stand for the truth and what I call ungodly compromise with the carnal culture of secular society, they call "tolerance." As everyone knows, tolerance is the virtue of those without convictions.

Let me begin by asking this – if you went to a doctor and he sees that you have cancer but decides not to tell you because he is afraid of hurting your feelings, is that the loving thing to do? Of course not. You expect the doctor to tell you the complete and honest truth, no matter how painful it may be in the short run. That is because in the long run, you know that he has your best interest at heart. My role as Medical Assistant to the Great Physician, Jesus Christ, is to provide you with the truth of your spiritual diagnosis. Just as you expect the painful truth from you physical doctor, I will provide you with the same level of painful truth in the spiritual treatment of your awful condition. You can have confidence that no matter how much it may hurt in the short run; ultimately I have your long-term best interest at heart. After all, I am looking out for the eternal destiny of your immortal soul.

Because this is such an important topic, I am going to have to break it up over two columns to cover it all. In this column, I will be dealing with diagnosis and in the next I will look at treatment for debilitating spiritual conditions. Some of you may question my qualifications to practice spiritual therapy but you may rest content in the knowledge that I am a Man of God, called by God to minister to those who lack the spiritual depth and dedication that I have. I am about the most spiritually healthy person I know of, living a life as free from known sin as possible. I am uncompromising in my stand for the Truth and I have no tolerance for spiritual error or emotional excess. Beyond that, I have a humble and contrite spirit, making me the ideal example of spiritual similitude.

Diagnosis of spiritual maladies is a tricky task. Many people are not up to it themselves because they are suffering symptoms of spiritual sickness that rob them of the discernment they need to accurately tell what is wrong with others. Many preachers are good at identifying symptoms during their Sunday morning sermons. They preach against dancing, movies, smoking, drinking and all the rest but they are often blind to the underlying root causes. Beyond their inability or unwillingness to identify and deal with sin at its root, there are a couple of areas where weak-willed preachers fall short of sound spiritual diagnosis.

The first area has to do with symptoms of things that they themselves suffer from. If you have a preacher who has run greedily after the error of Balaam for filthy lucre and has an avaricious heart he will do one of two things. He will either preach on money all the time or he will never mention it. The same is true of a pastor who has a problem with lust. Either every sermon will be about sexual sin or else the topic will never come up. You should never trust a pastor who either talks about one thing every time he gets in the pulpit or else has a topic that he never mentions.

Beyond the obvious weakness of such pastors is the fact that not all spiritual ailments have obvious symptoms. As a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, I keep a very close eye on my church members. I watch for the nervous twitch or the unconscious flinch when I am preaching so that I know what sins a person may be dealing with. Then, as they shake my hand on the way out the door, I call attention to their nervousness at the topic that pricked their sensitive conscience. If the person acts acutely embarrassed at having their secret sin revealed (as they usually do) I often follow up with next week's sermon topic covering the very sin that they are struggling with.

Most of the time, however, people are unaware that they are suffering from spiritual sickness and I have to awaken them to the fact that a particular message was meant for them. The difficulty for these people is that they usually don't respond to a subtle approach and I have to be fairly obvious in alerting them to their spiritual danger, even if it means mentioning their names from the pulpit. It is this approach that my critics find unloving when, in actuality, it is the most loving thing I could do. By alerting the entire church to their sinful condition and imminent danger, I can enlist the aid of the congregation in watching for the dear brother's or sister's soul. By drawing attention to their spiritual malady, I help keep the prayer list up to date and on everyone's mind. I even make sure that Bible Study topics are aimed at addressing their particular problems. It is a matter of marshalling all our resources toward lifting them out of the muck and mire of sin and bringing them into the glorious fellowship of God's people.

By far the most valuable service I perform in my role as diagnostician of debilitating devilishness in the lives of carnal Christians is informing them of the awful condition they are in. It does no one any good if we diagnose their difficulty and never tell them exactly what is wrong. Those who claim to be "loving" keep this news to themselves and abandon the spiritually ill to whatever fate awaits them. This is far more cruel and inhumane than telling them the honest, sometimes brutal truth they need to hear so they can seek treatment.

Or if they fail to heed the warnings, they find themselves so uncomfortable that they leave. My critics point this out as a bad thing when in reality the departure of the spiritually ailing protects the rest of us from getting infected.

Like any good clinician, I think it is important to warn people of the early onset of spiritual disease. Does the good doctor wait until a person is dying of cancer to warn them of the hazards of smoking? Certainly not. So why should I wait until a person is in terminal spiritual decline before warning them of the ultimate consequences of their actions? They should know that that "innocent" sip of beer is only the first step that will end up with them strung out on heroin. They should be warned that a Victoria's Secret catalog is merely the tiniest inch down a long road leading inevitably through pornography addiction, sexual temptation, and a life of debauchery and wantonness. My patients may consider me extreme but I think it is the only truly loving thing I can do.

"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."
1 John 3:18 (NIV)

Outward Adornement

2005-07-31T21:50:00.000-05:00

Today’s column is an adaptation of an article by Ron Williams of Hephzibah House in Winona Lake, Indiana. I received it through David Cloud’s Fundamental Baptist Information Service. The article began with the following opening:

An earnest Christian man parks his car in the church parking lot, and silently prays for God to bless the upcoming Lord’s Day services. He has been acutely aware of his fleshly lapses and spiritual failings during the past few days, and he is earnestly looking forward to fellowship with the consecrated believers of his flock, worshiping his Saviour and having his soul refreshed with godly music and the faithful preaching of the Word of God . . . he wants to enter into the upcoming services, not as a spectator, but to worship in spirit and in truth.

Within moments of entering the auditorium, he happens to see a young woman of the church of beautiful form and fair features who has chosen to dress in such a way that the design of her clothing and type of material reveal the contours of her body only her husband should see. The extremely close fit of her clothing serves to accentuate the movements of her body. Because she chose to wear a low neckline and short hem, her appearance becomes alluring and provocative to the vision of every man in the auditorium. The slit in her skirt reveals momentary sensual glimpses of her thigh with every step.

Now the Brother who sincerely came to seek the face of God, refresh his soul and worship his Saviour, finds himself in an unexpected battle with his flesh. His spirit seeks to avoid gazing at the Christian woman, whereas his lower nature wants to gaze upon her. He becomes so distracted in this conflict between his flesh and spirit that at the conclusion of the service, he feels soiled and defeated that he allowed his eyes to feed his lustful imaginations, and that he displeased his Saviour in so doing. His yearning anticipation of spiritual blessing in the worship service has unexpectedly ended in distraction and spiritual struggle.

I was wondering what would happen if we took the remainder of his article and changed the context from a woman’s apparel to the outward adorning of men’s vehicles. The following is the result although it has been much reduced from the original.

A SCRIPTURAL SOLUTION

Just as a man who follows his flesh will seek to usurp leadership of the church, he will also adorn his car in the ways of this world. Natural and supernatural behavior are sharply contrasted in scripture. A man utilizing the grace of God will be submissive and will drive in God-pleasing ways, whereas a man failing of the grace of God will resist, supplant or ignore his pastor’s authority, and will drive in ways conforming to the values, fads and fashions of this present world.

CONTRASTING ADORNMENT

In 1 Peter 3:3-4, there is a contrast between an automobile’s fleshly, worldly adorning and the adorning which pleases God. In other words, a man failing of the grace of God (either a lost man or a carnal man), will primarily focus on externals (verse 3) like chrome, dual overhead cams, fuel injection and (worst of all) turbocharging, whereas a godly man, who utilizes the grace of God, will primarily focus on internals (verse 4) like seatbelts, airbags, and other safety features.

A lost or carnal masculine heart finds pathetic and degrading emotional value in being the object of masculine attention and sensual gazing. Ostentatious, gaudy, immodest and brassy drivers are universally condemned in Scripture. In other words, a masculine heart bereft of the grace of God will naturally focus on externals to some degree; some scandalously so, others to the norms of popular culture at the time. Peter is saying, “Do not do what is a natural inclination for your fallen nature as a man.” And this speaks to the kind of vehicle you drive.

UNIVERSAL TEMPTATION OF MEN

Every man has “eye” problems because he has “heart problems.” Just as hell and destruction are voracious and insatiable, so are a man’s eyes. They are the primary gateway of exciting his libido, and that is why Job said, “I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?” in Job 31:1.

That a man is tempted by sight is no excuse for him to think or act in a wrong way. By the grace of God and through self-control, he can and must resist this temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13). How sad and incongruous that men coming to church services must resist looking at the cars of many Christian men who, either ignorantly or knowingly, by what they drive have become a sensual object of temptation for the eyes of every other man in the auditorium.

At what do most men of this world look when given the opportunity? Simply observe the eyes of men in public places where many people are coming and going. In such a public thoroughfare, notice the objects of their lustful and salacious gazing: cars and drivers that are acting boldly and immodestly. Notice also that men who drive cars that are dull, boring and unattractive (so as to conceal any potentially racy contours and minimize horsepower) receive little or no attention from those same lecherous men.

Any godly man must candidly ask this personal question: "Why would I want other men looking at me and my car with lust in their hearts?" Unless you, for some perverted and pathetic reason, deliberately desire to be the object of other men’s lustful gazing, you must purpose to “adorn yourself in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety” (1 Timothy 2:9). And you can count your car as part of your apparel. "Shamefacedness" is a sense of shame and modesty that would prevent a good man from ever defrauding another man and raising his carnal desires through his wrong choice of vehicle and/or actions behind the wheel, squealing out or revving the engine. "Sobriety" is that self-control of passions and desires that would prevent him from desiring to drive so as to attract the lustful eyes of other men.

THE OUTWARD REVEALS THE INWARD

One cannot take the prohibitions of 1 Peter 3:3 absolutely; i.e., we can never drive a nice car, never get custom detailing, etc., because this would also mean we can never drive cars! Again, the contrast of verses three and four explain the principle for us: emphasize internal godly character as opposed to shallow, corruptible and worldly outward features, like hood ornaments, mag wheels or custom wheel covers. Consequently, an insecure, worldly and carnal masculine heart concentrates on his externals, (horsepower, speed, deep throaty roar, etc.), whereas a godly man attempts to focus primarily on the development of inner character qualities while driving something as humble as a minivan. To put it another way, the externals of a man’s life, whether godly or ungodly, reflect the state of his internal, or heart condition. When one sees a gaudy, provocative and immodest car, the man behind the wheel is revealing a shallow or non-existent spirituality within. When one sees a hard working, submissive and quiet-spirited man who is driving a modestly constructed sedan or minivan, he is demonstrating or reflecting an inner godliness (1 Timothy 2:10).

How a man acts and drives reveals whether he is pleasing self or whether he is attempting to please God. Driving and acting as a man of this world will most assuredly rivet the persistent interest of lustful men, whereas adorning your car, heart and life with Christian graces and virtues merits the approving attention of a Holy God! Cars which men view as an object of lust will corrupt and decay. That which God counts as valuable will live on through the ages. How foolish to spend concentrated, laborious hours washing and waxing a car to gain a certain “look,” to spend vast sums of money on customizing packages and stylish special options, to assiduously solicit the salacious gaze and desire of other men, when it lasts for such a short time before it is corrupted?

Outward behavior reflects inner character of soul just as an external pulse represents an internal heartbeat. Dear Brother, when you adopt the automobile fashions and fads of this world, you are demonstrating by your outward behavior, a leanness and anemia of soul. Moreover, if you possess a hot car and a host of extra features, you are also responsible for placing a stumbling block in front of every other man who views your exposed and provocative automobile. Is the degraded gratification you receive from the lustful stares of other men worth being responsible for defrauding them, tempting them to lust, and debasing your own soul? This would be forsaking Divine approval and Heavenly reward for a mess of pottage.

A true Son of Abraham would be horrified with shame to be the object of another man’s lust. Rather, he is seeking to please his Heavenly Father with his modest automobile, quiet temperament and servant spirit.

Stingy Orthodoxy

2005-03-06T06:36:00.000-05:00

These past few weeks have seen a flurry of activity in the state of Kentucky that has piqued the interest of good Pharisees everywhere. Even though they lack the purity of faith in my own Pharisee denomination, the Kentucky Baptist Convention is close enough that I try to stay abreast of the latest news. It seems that the KBC has uninvited the noted pontiff of postmodern Christianity, Brian McLaren, from their upcoming evangelism conference. This was so newsworthy it not only sparked comments in the blogosphere but the mainstream media as well.

The reason for the disinvitation was pretty clear – McLaren showed his true colors in his latest book, A Generous Orthodoxy. I thought the disinvitation was prompted by the superb critique by Al Mohler earlier in February, but it turns out that the organizers of the evangelism conference took exception with the passage in the book that says, "I must add, though, that I don't believe making disciples must equal making adherents to the Christian religion. It may be advisable in many (not all!) circumstances to help people become followers of Jesus and remain within their Buddhist, Hindu, or Jewish contexts." This is such a preposterous statement, it hardly bears discussing. He might as well have suggested that the early apostles were not founding a new religion in the book of Acts but were actually practicing Jews who attended synagogue, worshipped in the temple, kept the feasts and maintained their Jewish customs. Everyone knows that Western American Christianity is the only True Form of the faith that is recognized by God. It is our high calling to not only preach the gospel but also to convert them to our culture. After all, isn't that what the Culture War is all about – making American-style Christians the world over?

He actually does say, "… I believe a person can affiliate with Jesus in the kingdom-of-God dimension without affiliating with him in the religious kingdom of Christianity. In other words, I believe that Christianity is not the kingdom of God. The ultimate reality is the kingdom of God, and Christianity at its best is here to proclaim and lead people into that kingdom, calling them out of smaller rings, smaller kingdoms. Christianity at its worst, using the definition in this paragraph, can become a sin when it holds people within its ring and won't let them enter the kingdom of God. Jesus diagnosed the religious leaders of his day as doing this very thing…. In the previous chapter, I suggested that Jesus didn't come to start another religion, which would include the Christian religion. I wasn't kidding. I do, in fact, believe that. That the Christian religion formed as it has is not surprising. It was no doubt necessary and in many ways good, and I know God is in it, and I am in it, too. But "the Christian religion" is neither the ultimate goal of Jesus nor the ultimate goal of God, in my view. Rather, the goal of Jesus is the kingdom of God…" Clearly McLaren misunderstands the importance of not just maintaining the Christian religion – but more importantly maintaining the Pharisee version of Christian religion – since all others are false forms of Christianity anyway.

Bill Mackey, KBC executive director, was quoted as saying, "We try to bring dynamic speakers to the Evangelism Conference who will challenge and inspire their listeners." And good for Bro. Mackey for doing so. Listeners need to be challenged and inspired to maintain the status quo, not challenged and inspired to read radical authors like McLaren. My fear is that by banning him, the Kentucky Baptists may have only spurred more interest in him. It is clear that Georgetown College, loosely affiliated with the SBC, is not on board with their fellows since McLaren is still scheduled to appear there. McLaren was identified as one of the 25 most influential evangelicals by TIME magazine. I think he's one of the most dangerous evangelicals because when asked about his position on gay marriage, he replied, "The thing that breaks my heart is that there's no way I can answer it without hurting someone on either side." Hogwash! If he was any kind of Christian he would have had no problem coming out and hurting people on the wrong side of the issue. Hurting people is what the chastening hand of God is all about and if that isn't enough, then we should feel free to be the conduits through which he vents his wrath.

My fear is that books like A Generous Orthodoxy might lead to a decline in spirituality and a loose, liberal, lackluster generous orthopraxy. We all know that straight is the way and narrow is the gate and few there be that find it. True Christians exist as a tiny remnant and it is hard enough for the few True Believers that exist to maintain our doctrinal purity with books like this in print. And we certainly do not need a self-proclaimed "missional, evangelical" heretic in the pulpit corrupting the minds of the young and leading them astray. While McLaren may advocate a generous orthodoxy, I would like to counter it with a "stingy orthopraxy" – a narrow practice that doesn't deviate to the right or to the left but maintains that knife-edge path of proper performance.

When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eathing with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: " Why does he eat with the tax collectors and sinners?" On hearing this, Jesus said to the, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come call the righteous but sinners."
Mark 2:16-17 (NIV)

Primal Preaching

2005-02-26T06:30:00.000-05:00

I had taken time to visit my sister last week thinking it would be nice to take a week off and be on the receiving end of some preaching for a change. And it probably would have been if I had. Instead, I went to church with her and her husband who claim to be good Pharisees. After last Sunday’s service, I’m convinced they are Pharisee in name only since there wasn’t any preaching that I could tell. The first thing I noticed when I went into their “church” was that the foyer was enormous and looked more like a lounge than a church entrance. Instead of a tiny vestibule with a rack of tracts, a map with missionary prayer cards and a coat rack like my church, they had an “Information Center” that looked like an airline counter. Smiling staff with name badges greeted folks as they came in. There were books, tapes and Bibles on display (most of which were in some modern per-version) and a stack of brochures about the church. Flanking the greeters at either end of the counter were huge coffee pots and trays of doughnuts, cookies and other snacks. The foyer was crowded with people chatting, drinking coffee and either standing or sitting in the plush sofas, chairs and recliners. My sister explained that since they had gone to two services, they used the time in between for people who might not otherwise see each other to mingle and fellowship. Since I was the only one in a suit and tie, I felt out of place and thought it better to head directly into the sanctuary.

From there things just got worse. The sanctuary was so dark I felt like I was in a movie theater (not that I would know what they are like since I don’t go to movies but I’ve heard what other people say about them) instead of a church. The only illumination came from candles that were shining at various “stations” as they were called. These were tables set up with large posters or other displays that highlighted some sort of devotional topic. Each station had poems or quotes on display and had books open that “worshippers” could use to jot their thoughts or prayers. There were a number of people gathered around them, writing in the journals, lighting candles, praying or reading the quotes. If you ask me, it was all a little eerie. I went with my sister and her family to sit midway between the entrance and the stage – and I do mean stage since it had no resemblance whatsoever to a church – where we listened to two guys with guitars strum some quiet tunes I didn’t recognize under dim stage lighting. After a while the place filled up and they had a “service” of some sort. I guess. I know I didn’t recognize it as anything I’ve ever experienced before.

They started with a responsive reading from the Psalms with the words projected on a big screen. This was followed by thirty minutes of singing where the words on the screen changed once. It wasn’t really thirty minutes but it seemed like we sang the same words so many times it became meaningless mumbo jumbo. Eventually the singing gave way to playing by the “Praise Team” of some additional musicians who were joined by singers. Not one single song was godly as they sang only contemporary Christian music. Eventually the musicians quit and then they had a bunch of people come up and enact some sort of drama that went completely over my head. Finally the preacher stood up after the applause (which has no place in a godly church anyway) and had what I can only call as a talk. There was no podium, no pulpit desk, no yelling or pounding so, to my way of thinking, there was no preaching. I thanked my sister for taking me with her to church but I will make sure that I am never caught there on a Sunday morning again.

My experience heightened my awareness of the decline of preaching in our churches today. I’m not the only one who feels this way. Al Mohler wrote on “The need for biblical preaching” in the BP News this past week echoing many of my very own concerns. When I shared the article with my brother-in-law by e-mail his response was a little less than charitable. “Of course you are going to defend the primacy of preaching,” he wrote. “As a paid, professional pulpiteer that’s all you do.” I take great exception to this. Preaching is not “all I do.” First of all I spend up to six hours a day in intensive study preparing for the sermons I preach. He has no idea how much work goes into preaching a sermon. I have to search all of the main preacher web sites for sermon ideas. Then I have to find sermon illustrations from the myriad topics to go with the ideas. I find outlines to go with the messages and then the hard work begins. I research all my online commentaries, Bible study sites and even news stories to keep the message relevant. Sermon preparation is grueling work and best left to professionals.

He then went on to tell me that it’s hard for him to take my defense of preaching seriously since that is how I derive my living. He equated it to asking a barber if he needed a haircut – of course the barber is going to say you need one. We then began a rather fiery exchange back and forth that may have ultimately failed to convince him of the rightness of my position. I told him that all the great Puritans emphasized the importance of preaching and he shot back that they emphasized an “experimental faith” that complemented their preaching. When I said that they were not conducting experiments in faith but knew what they were talking about, he replied that I misunderstood the word. He said that they emphasized practical application rather than mere doctrinal disputation as I did.

I shot back that expository preaching was the foundation of sound Biblical sermonizing, that sound preachers should let the text set the agenda instead of responding to “felt needs” of the listeners. He said there wasn’t a single sermon in the Bible that was based on a verse-by-verse exposition of a text. He even went so far as to say, “Show me ONE SINGLE SERMON in the Bible where this is the case – where the text set the agenda. At best, sermons and letters quote Old Testament texts, but there is not one single incidence that I can find of an "expository" sermon in the Bible. One of the most famous sermons in the Bible in Acts 17 not only cites NO BIBLICAL TEXTS AT ALL but quotes from a heathen Greek poet instead.” As you can tell, he gets rather excitable in his posts.

When I countered that sermons were our primary means of evangelism and reaching out to sinners, he got sarcastic and wrote, “Fortunately, sinners aren't your problem. They rarely come to your church and if they do, they are generally unwelcome. They dress poorly, smell funny, talk rudely or may even be GLBTs and you really don't want them there. This is my point. If the gospel is so important, then why aren't you taking it out to the lost instead of expecting them to come in and wade past a gauntlet of ‘holier-than-thous’ to get it in an environment totally alien to them? If they don't know what theirdeepest need is and we don't GO tell them, then how is your preaching going to effect any meaningful change?” He then went on to say, “One of the things we NEVER see in the Bible is an evangelistic effort that involves inviting people to "come to church" and hear a sermon. This is a thoroughly modern invention and is nowhere practiced or admonished in scripture. So you are barking up the wrong tree.”

At this point I broke off our exchange because he couldn’t see the point that I was trying to make. The single most important thing I do is preach the gospel. It doesn’t matter if I only preach it to people who are already saved or if the lost never come in to hear it or if I never take it outside the four walls of our church. The important point is, I preach it and it is available to them to come hear it any time they want. Jesus may stand outside the door and knock but they can come in and hear me preach – as long as they dress respectably, sit quietly, don’t make a fuss or draw attention to themselves and are willing to do things our way – to hear about the unconditional love of Christ.

“You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
Their teachings are but rules taught by men.’”
Matthew 15:7-9 (NIV)

Spiritual Direction

2005-02-19T06:38:00.000-05:00

There is a disturbing trend that is at work among Christianity today that threatens to undermine the very foundations of Pharisee religious experience. Some of you see threats in the Culture around us. Others see threats from within. Today I would like to warn you of a threat from without that is far more insidious than any I’ve ever yet encountered. We know that Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light and that if it were possible, he would deceive the very elect. As a member of God’s elect, I want to reassure you that I have not been deceived by that old serpent’s latest attempt to worm his way into our Pharisee churches. Satan, knowing that religion is a cloak in which to hide himself, often assumes the guise of spirituality in order to deceive the weak. Many people are easily fooled and led away by his tricks. Fortunately for you, I am here to warn you of his snares and expose his latest trick. It is the increasing use of “spiritual directors” by otherwise biblical Pharisees.

Spiritual directors and spiritual direction is a quiet but rising force, all the more insidious because those most likely to be drawn into this web of error and apostasy are pastors themselves. One of the reasons that pastors are most vulnerable to the siren song of spiritual direction is because they spend their days and nights providing direction and guidance to the flock over which God has made them overseer. This can quickly become an emotionally draining activity that taxes the spiritual fortitude of even the best pastor. One of the reasons I do not succumb to these demands is because I do not have a large congregation and nearly everyone that attends my church is a mature Christian who needs very little guidance in spirituality. Instead, they need me to warn them about threats from the outside. This is why most of my ministry is dedicated to exposing the errors of others.

You may wonder what is so dangerous about spiritual directors and what is wrong with them. Allow me to expose their errors for you. First of all, most spiritual directors are of the catholic persuasion. There may be a few Protestants who advocate spiritual direction but most are catholic. Some are Roman Catholic. Others are Anglican or Eastern Orthodox. All of them represent the insidious influence of Catholicism. As we know, Catholics of all stripes avoid truths that the rest of Christianity holds dear. I have had people convince me that just because Catholics believe such things as the deity of Christ, the virgin birth, original sin and other doctrines they have at least some truth. Well, they may give lip-service to such but they don’t really hold the truth the way us Pharisees do. By mixing it with even the tiniest bit of error, they destroy the whole thing and even if they were 99 and 44/100% pure, that extra .56% of error would be enough to consign them to apostasy. Only 100% purity as practiced by us Pharisees is good enough for God.

Beyond their association with Catholics and error, Spiritual directors often hold radical notions such as nonviolence and even a “Network for Good” as if doing good has any place in true Christianity. We all know that Christians should be characterized by a deep and abiding faith instead of an outward show of good works. Most of what you read about spiritual directors and spiritual direction is vague and ephemeral. They talk about prayer as some sort of communion with the Divine when really it is a shopping list for getting our wants and needs answered. They describe meditation and contemplation as some sort of virtue or means to promote mysticism in the Christian experience. All good Christians know that there is nothing mystical about Christianity and to explore the “mysteries” of God will only lead to error. God is easily explained and understood by the systematic theology we preach and teach in our Pharisee churches. Every question has a simple, clear, easy to understand answer that can be demonstrated through the skillful use of proof texts. The only “mystery” I see is how people go in for this stuff.

Let me conclude by saying that people who need spiritual direction need look no further than the pulpit of their local Pharisee church. Pharisee pastors are exemplars of spiritual devotion, piety and holiness. If one would simply emulate our stern resolve to remain unspotted from the world and dedication to our Christian sub-culture, they would never be plagued by the nagging doubts or sense of “wanting something more” from their spiritual experience. If you want more, just order my sermon CDs on the dangers of spiritual directors.

“Be careful,” Jesus said to them, “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”…Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Matthew 16:6, 12 (NIV)

BIBLICAL PHARISAISM

2004-11-19T22:48:00.000-05:00

Many outside the Pharisee denomination have the temerity to suggest that because our denominational name has only been in existence for the past few centuries that we are not a biblical denomination. What they fail to understand is that Pharisaism is an essential part of biblical Christianity. One can no more be a Christian without being a Pharisee than one can be a bird and not fly. My critics accuse me of basing this claim on my own personal interpretation of Pharisaism. They say I categorize anything that doesn’t fit with my theology as unscriptural. These miscreants have everything totally backwards, as usual. They make it sound like I elevate my theology above the Bible itself and interpret the Bible through the polarizing lens of my beliefs. What they fail to realize is that all of my beliefs are shaped by the Bible. I believe what I believe because it is in the Bible rather than “seeing” something in the Bible because I hold to a particular belief. What ridiculous nonsense.

Even though I was raised in a Pharisee church by Pharisee parents, graduated from a Pharisee Christian school, went to a Pharisee Bible College and have only attended Pharisee churches all my life, my beliefs are not influenced one bit by my upbringing or culture. They are strictly a product of sound Biblical exegesis and applied study. This is because “no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation” and Pharisee churches take a high view of the Bible. While our beliefs may be unique to the Pharisee church, it is because we are the only ones who rightly divide the Word of Truth. How do I know this to be true? It is because I only study Pharisee theologians and read Pharisee commentators. I wouldn’t waste my time reading drivel from radical false teachers like R. C. Sproul or David Jeremiah. That way I am assured that I will always be correct in my reading of the Word of God.

I am convinced that the Bible demands Pharisaism. There are many denominations today and none of them agree completely with the Pharisee form of Christianity. That is because they do not take the Word of God seriously. I am convinced that any sincere, believing Christian who is not a Pharisee (if such indeed is possible) takes a serious view of the Bible and begins to study it, in time they will see the truth of Pharisaism and will become one of us. So why isn’t everyone a Pharisee? A fine question, to be sure. I am convinced that it is because men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. They would rather hold onto their sins and wickedness than come over to the truth of Pharisaism, er, I mean the Bible.

The Bible demands that we take a narrow view of truth. Too many would have a Bible that is open to interpretation or subject to man’s opinions. These are false prophets who come in as wolves in sheep’s clothing. They want to lead captive silly women laden in sins and tickle the ears of those whose hearts have waxed gross from sin. These are men who will try and teach people that they can read the Bible for themselves and come to conclusions on their own. What they don’t tell the people is that the Bible is a difficult book to read and study on one’s own. It takes years of study and a profession dedication to be able to understand what the Bible says. People should be willing to trust that I am led by the Holy Spirit when I interpret the Bible for them. And I am more than qualified and willing to do the hard work of interpreting the Bible for their ultimate good. This will keep them from having to worry about whether they have interpreted it correctly or not. I will humbly take up this great burden on their behalf.

Not only does the Bible demand that we preach the truth but it also demands that we expose error. It admonishes us to try the spirits and see whether they are of God. Oftentimes a church member will come to me with a tape or book from a heretical preacher like John MacArthur and ask me to explain something that these men have said. I will have to go to great lengths to expose the heresy and error found in these works. They are doubly dangerous because they hide their tiny heretical doctrines in a wash of truth. It takes a truly discerning scholar like me to detect many of these errors and expose them to people. So why do I go to the trouble and difficult work of exposing the errors of others? Because the Bible commands us to earnestly contend for the faith. It is our solemn duty to be contentious and engender strife on behalf of the gospel of Christ.

But not only does the Bible demand that we expose error and preach against it every chance we get, we are also supposed to separate ourselves from those who have error. God would never use anyone who has the least amount of error to accomplish his work. So it behooves us to keep ourselves pure and unspotted from the falsehoods of those who would corrupt the faith like James Dobson and Jerry Falwell, men who are so broadminded and accepting of other persuasions that they could hardly be said to take a stand for Christ at all. These men are proof positive that diligence is required on the part of any who would keep their faith pure. Let me just summarize by saying you don’t have to be a Pharisee to believe the Bible, but if you do believe the Bible, it won’t be long until you become a Pharisee – the Lord’s Only True Church.

"The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.”
Matthew 23:2-3 (NIV)

Election 2004

2004-11-12T20:45:00.000-05:00

Note: A little while ago Dave Blakeslee, founder of www.PoMoXian.com and keeper of the Gamaliel archives at the PoMoXian Yahoo group and inhabitant of a Blue state, suggested that I post Gamaliel’s response to the election, particularly since he lives in a Red state. Due to my travel schedule and other things, I was unable to secure a response from everybody’s favorite Pharisee. Fortunately, my good friend Mike Stidham (known widely online as The Action Sub) was able to procure an e-mail from an acquaintance of Gamaliel, Telemachus J. Dobson. I’m sure you will enjoy his viewpoint on the recent campaign.

RE: ELECTION 2004

Like many of our Pharisee brethren, we rejoice in the election of God's Man of the Hour, George W. Bush. We also exult that the Godless Left Wing Biased Media have correctly noticed that Pharisee Moral Values have been the deciding factor in this election. While prior to the election of the Almighty Ronald Reagan, a graphic of the color red covering the nation was a call to arms against ungodly Communists and their sympathizers in Washington and college campuses throughout our land; Red is now representative of the GOP--GOD'S ONLY PARTY and the lefties are now singing Democrat Blues.

We recognize that it was God's hand at work, delivering us from the demonic hand of that modern-day Ahab, John Kerry. Like many of the evil kings of Judah, he married a foreign woman. In this case, we submit that Teresa Heinz Kerry, that New Age Jezebel, would lead her husband farther away from the standard of right living and by extension, lead God's City on a Hill to rack and ruin.

But let us not rest on our laurels. We must understand that this is not a victory to be savored, but a stay of execution to be used wisely. Our Lord has granted us four more years of prosperity, instead of the Democratic Party taking our Bibles away and forbidding the preaching of the Gospel.

And the possibility of Hillary Clinton in the West Wing? First off, our Word says that a "woman shall not hold any place of authority over a man". If they can't teach Sunday School, they for sure ain't going to run the country!!!! However, it is rumored that sex-crazed degenerate, Bill Clinton, aspires to the presidency of the UN. This, of course, would put him as second banana to #666 himself, at the right hand of the Seat of Satan over the New World Order. (It is regrettable that Our President's father innocently invoked this phrase, thus diluting it of its correct evil connotation.)

We also see this as a deliverance for Iraq. God has delivered the original home of the Garden of Eden (now located three miles north of Tulsa) from the hand of Sodam Insane (sp?). He has now allowed those towel-head heathens one more chance to hear the Gospel before Our President issues the call for Armageddon. It is positively exciting to have a front-row seat as the prophetic writings of LaHaye and Jenkins for this end time are realized!!!!

To sum it up, at the end of the day, I thank God I am not like the liberals who have just recently discovered there is a God and are praying they don't get slaughtered again in ‘08. I have voted according to Pharisee family values since we discovered them in 1980. We have a portrait over the pulpit of Jesus placing his hand on Ronald Reagan's shoulder while George W. Bush holds the coats. We have the ushers tear all non-W04 bumper stickers off cars in our lot. In short, I am thankful that I am not a Democrat, a dog, or Teresa Heinz Kerry.

In closing, God's hand be on you and your tireless call to the nation to observe the Pharisee Family Values that made this land great!!!

Telemachus J. Dobson

A graduate of Pharisee Theological Seminary and All-Night Pancake House, the Rev. Mr. Dobson is married with a young daughter and two cats, all of whom abide in full submission. TJD pastors the Riverbend Pharisee Mission in Southern Illinois.

(NOTE: Rev. Dobson is no relation to that other guy in Colorado. He wishes to make this clear since the psycho-heretic doctor may talk the talk, but since he has allowed his wife to head up the National Day of Prayer Committee instead of doing it himself, it is clear he doesn't walk the walk.)

Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."
John 18:36 (NIV)

Pompous Preachers

2004-11-05T08:09:00.000-05:00

Being a Pharisee pastor carries with it great weight and grave responsibility. One of the most important of those responsibilities is to set an example for the next generation of Pharisee preachers to follow in our footsteps. A great deal of what I see in the next generation of Pharisee preachers gives me grave concern. I see the spirit of compromise on every hand, defection from the cherished beliefs of our denomination, a lack of commitment in practicing biblical separation regarding our One True Church (I have even seen Pharisee preachers attend interdenominational conferences and rallies!) and a social activism that threatens to undermine our stand for the Truth. As bad as all of that is, nothing is more disturbing than the arrogance and pomposity of the new generation of Pharisee preachers. I was sharing my heart on this very matter with another Pharisee pastor friend of mine who sent me an e-mail with the following attachment:

In every generation there are those of an officious spirit who aspire to leadership, demanding deference from their fellows. Such men, especially when they are endowed with natural gifts above the average, are the kind who become the founders of new sects and parties, and insist upon unqualified subjection from their followers. Their interpretation of the Scriptures must not be challenged, their dicta are final. They must be owned as rabbis and submitted to as fathers. Everyone must believe precisely what they teach, and order all the details of his life by the rules of conduct which they prescribe, or else be branded as a heretic and denounced as a gratifier of the lusts of the flesh. There have been, and still are, many such self-elevated little popes in Christendom, who deem themselves to be entitled to implicit credence and obedience, whose decisions must be accepted without question. They are nothing but arrogant usurpers, for Christ alone is the Rabbi or Master of Christians; and since all of His disciples be brethren they possess equal rights and privileges.
(Arthur W. Pink, Practical Christianity, p. 178)

This is so descriptive of the next generation of Pharisee pastors that it could have been written yesterday instead of years ago. It is exactly what I see going on in these newer Pharisee churches all across our country. It seems like a week doesn’t go by but some formerly trustworthy Pharisee pastor doesn’t assume the mantle of self-importance and sets himself up as his own sovereign. These men start churches with unconventional names like The River or Fellowship of Faith or some other vague appellation that seeks to conceal their affiliation with the True Pharisee church. As far as I am concerned, if they are too ashamed to call themselves Pharisees, then I am too ashamed to admit them into our fellowship. Nor will I tolerate members who think they can visit such churches, participate with them in their ungodly worship using all manner of musical instruments and soundtracks, clapping and all that nonsense and still be welcomed back into our fellowship contaminated with all these dangerous new ideas and practices. If any of my members try that, they will be immediately dismissed from our church and ostracized. After all, it only takes a little leaven to leaven the whole lump. Do you see how divisive and dangerous this new generation of preachers has become?

These preachers have such a low view of the Word of God that they don’t even use the right version of the Bible. They have abandoned tried and true theological understanding and are embracing all sorts of new beliefs. Instead of coming to us older Pharisee pastors who have been around the block, they turn to modern writers and embrace every sort of heretical idea that comes along. My fellows and I have been interpreting and rightly dividing the word of God longer than most of these young fellows have been alive. And we are absolutely firm, steadfast and unwavering in our beliefs - unlike them who are swayed by every wind of doctrine and the sleight and cunning craftiness of men. I would estimate that I haven’t changed a single one of my beliefs in over forty years of being a Pharisee pastor. They change beliefs nearly as often as they change underwear. And then they have the conceit to say to me that I am rigid and inflexible and intolerant to new ideas as if that is a bad thing. They want to force me into their wishy-washy mode of skepticism and doubt that constantly questions the most fundamental assumptions of our faith. One of the ironic things of this new breed of “Pharisee” pastor is that they believe one and all that no two Pharisee preachers should hold to EXACTLY the same set of beliefs. They are uniform in their call for non-conformity. In fact they are universally suspicious of those of us who all believe the same thing without question or vacillation. Well, I for one will not be dictated to on what I need to believe in order to be spiritual. I believe uniformity is essential to the Christian life. How can two walk together except they be agreed? This militant adherence to individuality is an intolerable compromise with the world, in my opinion, and should not be allowed.

It should be abundantly clear to you by now that these preachers are exactly as Pink described – arrogant usurpers who deny that all of us possess equal rights and privileges. These men clearly do not have the right to judge me as an older and wiser pastor and they should defer to me instead of going about to make decisions on their own. They are like Rehoboam who listened to the council of his peers instead of the older men who were wiser and more experienced. As everyone knows, age has its privilege and these young pastors should recognize that. It is our task as older Pharisee pastors to chart the course of the faith and it is their task to follow along meekly, humbly, gratefully in imitation of Jesus Christ, who learned obedience through the things that he suffered.

Gamaliel/rjp

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when all the time there is a plank in your own eye. You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Matthew 7:3-5 (NIV)

2004-10-22T13:43:00.000-05:00

The Joy of Judging

An anonymous “drive by poster” with a fake e-mail address dropped this bomb on my Pharisee Phundamentals discussion group with a comment that the article applied to all of us on the list and we needed to “get a clue”. We commonly get hate e-mails from those who live guilty lives of sin, compromise, debauchery, unholiness and general disobedience to God’s word. They drop into our group, criticize us and drop out. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why. I suppose it provides them with some sort of catharsis or smug superiority that allows them to continue a life mired in sin without feeling the need to repent. Aside from that, I feel the need to address the article since it raised such a ruckus in the group.

Let me say first of all that the article appeared in that bastion of liberalized watered-down lukewarm lameness, Christianity Today, which may be “today” but hardly reflects the true nature of Christ, True Christians or True Christianity. How can a magazine promoting Harry Potter as the next best thing to the Chronicles of Narnia call itself Christian? Granted, C. S. Lewis was only a nominal Christian and was no fundamentalist or Pharisee but at least his books attempt to portray Christian ideals. To promote the reading of Harry Potter by the young is grossly irresponsible, and in my opinion, anti-Christian. So the fact that this article appeared in CT is proof to me that the magazine has no merit whatsoever. But because there are weak, unlearned and perhaps well meaning Christians who do read the magazine, I feel I must engage the discussion here since my replies to the drive by message poster keep getting bounced.

The premise of the article is that the author gets angry at himself for getting angry at Christians for getting angry at the world. This is a mark of his personal insecurity, lack of confidence and vacillation about his own convictions. He seems to confuse two concepts that are clearly distinct - the concept of judgmentalism and the concept of discernment or good judgment. This is a common fault in our “politically correct” and “postmodern” times where all viewpoints are supposed to be valid and it’s wrong to rain on other people’s parades. I call this being wishy-washy or lacking conviction. Let me state for the record that Christians are called upon to be discerning and exercise good judgment. God calls us to judge the spirits and see whether they are of God. We are to judge righteous judgment. We are to judge the fruits of teachers to see if they are of God. Those who quote Matthew 7:1 out of context are the ones who are the real hypocrites because they, like the author of the editorial, are judging me for judging righteously.

Let me explain what I mean by judgmentalism. It is any time anyone finds any fault with me. People who criticize me are practicing censoriousness and are being hyper-critical as well as hypo-critical. I am a man of God, duly called, ordained, sanctified and set apart for God’s service. As David would not lift his hand against God’s anointed, I am exempt from judgment because the anointing of God rests on my holy brow. Some would call me arrogant for making such an assertion and they would be right if it were not for one thing. I did not take this honor upon myself. It was placed on me by God. I did not call myself into the ministry but I have been called by God. And yes, I know that there are many who make this claim and pastor godless non-Pharisee churches but you can rest assured that they are deceivers while I am telling you the honest truth.

Judgmentalism also extends to my church. Many are critical of the Pharisee denomination, individual Pharisee churches and Pharisee pastors. I have to admit that sometimes I engage in criticism of them as well but I do it from the position of an insider. I love the Pharisee denomination and I love my church so if I offer anything in criticism, it is not to judge but to chasten as a loving parent. Everything I say is for the good of the church and their pastors. The reprobate, apostate non-Pharisee critics are mounting a judgmental attack from the outside, criticizing us out of fear and ignorance and generally exercising their lack of discernment against us. They do more to display their unbelief and vile condition before God than they do to provide an honest critique. The only purpose their comments serve is to give notice that they are not of the household of faith for if they had been of us, they would have stayed with us, but they went out from us because they had no part in God’s favor as we do.

Good judgment on the other hand, rests on the firm foundation of discernment. Discernment is the ability to tell one thing from another, to distinguish Truth from Falsehood, to tell right from wrong and black from white. The author of the article claims that hypocrisy starts when people think they are experts. What he fails to realize is that only an ignorant person, reveling in their ignorance and taking pride in their inability to know anything for certain would make such a statement. Those of us who really are experts in discerning truth from error feel no such irresolution about stating what we know for certain. Good judgment demands certain knowledge of truth from error and I happen to possess it. To say otherwise is to practice judgmentalism rather than good judgment and they are deceiving themselves if they think failing to judge is good judgment.

Gamaliel/RJP

Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way.
Romans 13:14 (NIV)

2004-10-16T00:08:00.000-05:00

Cultural Relevance

One of the biggest lies to come out of what is being called the “Emergent Church” movement is the notion that the church must be “culturally relevant” if it wants to reach our postmodern generation. Their argument is that as the culture changes we need to adapt our methods of presenting the gospel and even our language to reach a generation of people who are unfamiliar with the Evangelical Christian subculture. This is an extension of the work pioneered by the likes of Francis Schaeffer and his L’Abris Fellowship who tried to reach long-haired hippie-style “Jesus People” with his watered-down version of the gospel. Schaeffer taught that we need to engage the culture by understanding where it is coming from and pointing out where it is going. Unfortunately, he never identified the destination as “Hell in a hand basket.” Some misguided and impressionable preachers took these ideas to heart like Bill Hybels of Willow Creek who helped create the “seeker-sensitive” church model and Rick Warren who pioneered his Purpose Driven™ model of the church. Since that time, cultural drift continues to shunt America from being a culture that valued Christian separation to one the late Mike Yaconelli has written about that tries to keep pace with this changing culture.

The notion that we need to respond to the culture around us is a heresy that is designed to foster compromise of the truth. Let me state first of all that this idea is exactly backwards from the facts. The True Church has never been influenced by the culture. The True Church should be influencing the culture by setting standards of holiness, good conduct, deportment and acceptable behavior. It is our God-given task to be the arbiters of Biblical interpretation with an eye to practical application. We are to be salt and light in a sin-darkened world, not “culturally relevant” as some have proclaimed. For us to allow the church to be influenced by the culture is to allow error and impurity to tarnish Christ’s spotless bride.

I have heard people tell me that we are already products of our culture. The language and methods that we use in communicating the gospel are already shaped by the culture in which we were raised. This is a deception from the devil. Our critics point to things like the altar call and the style of our music as inventions that have only come into the church in the past two hundred years or less. They say that the language we use in our services was heavily influenced by the culture of the post-war Baby Boom. I want to make it absolutely clear that our church is in no way influenced by the culture we are in and we do not hold to any beliefs that are strictly of cultural origin. At best we are “culturally neutral” in our Pharisee churches.

For example, total abstinence from alcoholic beverages is a timeless Biblical truth, not a cultural norm. The Prohibition Movement in America did not create or foster this doctrinal position as some suppose. It was merely an attempt by Christians to influence the country for good. The fact that so-called Christians in other countries enjoy an occasional alcoholic beverage only proves that they have abandoned the faith once delivered to the saints. Their lack of standards cannot be proved to be a testimony to the notion that consumption of alcoholic beverages is biblically acceptable. This evil is so pernicious that there are even Christians in our country who feel perfectly free to imbibe of spirits despite their claim to being saved.

Those who say that the Bible endorses consumption of alcohol as a beverage misunderstand Paul’s directive to Timothy. He was not saying that alcoholic consumption was permissible. He was advising young Timothy on a medical matter. Folks were so backward in ancient times that they did not have access to medicine like we have today. Paul’s advice was a prescription since wine was the only medicine available at that time. We should no more consider Paul’s advice a license to drink any more than a doctor’s prescription today is a license to take illegal drugs. They also claim that Jesus turned the water into wine at Cana but we all know that the wine he made was non-alcoholic, non-intoxicating wine that was better than anything they had ever tasted before.

Other matters where we have not wavered are in our musical tastes. We listen to the same songs that the church has listened to down through the ages. Our songs cross cultural barriers and come from a wide range of cultural milieus as well as racial and ethnic traditions. We sing the songs of the Wesley brothers from England and timeless songs from Scotland, Ireland and Wales. We even have a hymn or two from Germany and Finland in addition to our traditional American songs. So we are clearly racially and ethnically diverse in our Pharisee churches. This broad diversity of our cultural heritage helps us to transcend cultural boundaries and reach out to white people all over the English-speaking world regardless of ethnic origin or cultural background.

An even more pernicious error is adopting items from the surrounding culture into our worship. Some churches have gotten so bad about this that their music sounds like a popular radio station, their use of projectors looks like a movie house and their sermons sound more like motivational speeches than theological discourse. People aren’t even dressing for church any more like they used to. They look like they are dressed for a day at the park instead of a day of worship before an almighty God. How can people possibly offer up godly worship if they aren’t even dressed in their Sunday best? They may be pleased with themselves but I have no doubts that God is far from pleased with them. The last thing we should try to do is adopt the ways of our surrounding culture into how we conduct our worship services.

True Pharisee Churches today are uninfluenced by our surrounding culture. Our music, dress, conduct, language are all timeless verities of the truth contained in God’s word. We are not in the business of responding to the culture or trying to communicate to the culture. We are in the business of standing for the Truth of Pharisee culture in a sin darkened world. And if the surrounding culture considers us irrelevant, out of touch and out of step with their world, then that is their loss and is none of our concern. They are the ones accountable to God for failing to heed our message. Certainly we are not accountable for failing to communicate it in a way that they can understand. If their hearts were not so darkened by sin, then they would have no problems understanding us.

…as some of your own poets have said, “We are the offspring of God.”
Acts 14:28 (NIV)

2004-10-08T22:47:00.000-05:00

Pharisee Taliban?

A supposed colleague of mine – a non-Pharisee pastor – sent me a link to a story on NPR’s All Things Considered program today. Before I go any further let me state that National Public Radio should just go ahead and change its name to National Liberal Radio. It is so blatantly anti-conservative that the only way I would have heard this story is to listen to it online. That’s why this “colleague” of mine sent an e-mail link to me. He knows I am too busy listening to Rush Limbaugh to tune in to ATC. The story he wanted me to listen to was titled “Afghan Women Prepare for First Vote in 30 Years” which was mildly interesting but that is not what made me hopping mad. Just take a look at this e-mail he sent me and guess why I am hopping mad.

-----Original Message-----

From: Pastor Sparks [mailto:friend4christ@firstchurch.org]

Sent: Friday, October 08, 2004 6:01 PM

To: Pastor GamalielSubject: Pharisee Taliban?

Hey, Pastor G.

I was listening to NPR on my way home from serving lunch at the homeless shelter downtown this afternoon and a story came on that made me think of you. I had to listen to the repeat broadcast of ATC because I only caught half of the story the first time around and thought they were doing an expose on your church. Ha, ha, just kidding. It turned out to be a report from Afghanistan on women getting the right to vote. If you go to NPR.org and click on All Things Considered for today’s show, you’ll find the piece I was talking about. When you get done, let me know what the difference is between a woman under the Taliban and a woman in a Pharisee church, OK?
LOL
Have a good weekend,
Sparky

I am still seething as I write this column. If any of you managed to hear the story you will see why I am so offended. This “brother” had the temerity to accuse our Pharisee church of relegating women to second class status and treating them just as badly as the Taliban treated women. This is a gross mischaracterization and undermines the high view we take of women and the fact that we put them on a pedestal, rather than treat them as a footstool.

For instance, the Taliban requires women to dress in an extremely demeaning way by keeping them entirely hidden from view and any vestiges of their femininity completely covered. We of the Pharisee church would never do such a thing. Yes, we believe that women should dress modestly but we would never impose extreme fashion requirements on them. The Taliban required women to wear a burkha at all times. We only require women to wear a veil or head covering when they come to church. There are some extreme Christian denominations that impose rigorous headgear for women at all times, but the Pharisee church is nowhere near as stodgy as they are. The Taliban required women to wear extremely limited clothing. Good Pharisee women can dress any way they please as long as they dress modestly in accordance with the Bible and don’t wear that which “pertains to a man.” Godly Pharisee women dress to look like women and take great pleasure in not using gaudiness to draw attention to themselves. They avoid the over-application of cosmetics and jewelry as befits a humble servant of God.

What was most distressing about this story was the rise of women’s suffrage in Afghanistan and the fact that women might consider voting against the wishes of their husbands. Good Pharisee women would never be guilty of “canceling out” their husbands’ votes but would first of all seek the wisdom of their men in all matters political before going to cast their ballots. Some people erroneously think that we are oppressing women by expecting them to consult with their husbands before voting but this is merely prudence. There is a divine order in which God the Father rules over Jesus, Jesus rules the husband, and the husband rules the wife and children as God’s delegated authority. Think of it as an umbrella of authority and women need to be covered by their husbands’ umbrellas. This isn’t my idea. This is God’s plan for families as revealed in the word of God and Bill Gothard seminars, no matter what critics may say. And as the God-appointed ruler of my house, it is my responsibility to make decisions on the big issues of the family: politics, church attendance and family finances to name a few. This is not to say that my wife has no decision making power. She chooses what the kids wear to home school in the morning, what we eat for meals, what day to do the laundry, and other vital matters. It’s just that she leaves the big decisions up to me and I leave the domestic decisions up to her.

Some people, including Pastor Sparks, feel that this view is tyrannical and demeaning to women. What he doesn’t understand is that this Godly order is designed to protect the woman. Just look at the first time women had a chance to make a decision and see what happened. She chose to consign the human race to a fallen condition by eating the forbidden fruit. It is only be God’s grace that He finds Adam to be mostly at fault instead of Eve. With this kind of track record, it is in the woman’s best interest to let the man make all the big, spiritual decisions and let the woman make all the small, fleshly decisions. This divine order of the sexes is really for woman’s own good, even if they are too blind to see it.

Just think about it. Politics can be difficult to understand and confusing. The political dialogue is hard to follow and discernment is a key component required to comprehend what is going on. Why should godly men burden their women unnecessarily with political issues when these women would rather be at home raising their children and caring for the house? We free them up so they are not distracted from the thing they truly love – being a keeper at home. As a godly husband, this is a heavy burden, but it is one I am willing to bear and one that every Pharisee husband should be willing to bear. What kind of husbands would we be if we didn’t provide the necessary guidance to our wives so they would know how to dress, how to vote, how to raise the children and how to spend money? Women are thankful for husbands that have the courage to step in and take charge on these matters.

In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church…
Ephesians 5:28-29 (NIV)

2004-10-01T20:21:00.000-05:00

The Crossover Compromise

I was showing a web article on so-called Christian crossover bands to a fellow Pharisee pastor and was startled to find that he was impressed with what the bands were doing and suggesting that maybe we’re being a little too hard on them. Granted, this pastor was very young in both age and in the ministry and has incorporated a great many modern innovations like using soundtracks for congregational singing. While this doesn’t automatically brand him as a hopeless compromiser with the world, it does cause me to regard him with a great deal of suspicion. After our recent conversation, I don’t know that I have the heart to call him a Pharisee pastor at all since he has fallen so far from the denominational tree.

One of the most important doctrines Pharisees stand for is the doctrine of Biblical Separation. The very notion of a “crossover Christian” is an abomination to God as a compromise with the world and should be rejected in all its forms. I mentioned this to the pastor and he dared to accuse me of hypocrisy. He said that we don’t make such demands of any other profession, so we have no business holding musicians to a standard we are unprepared to hold anyone else to. Well he is wrong on two counts.

First of all, there is a distinct difference between those people who live their lives for God in full time Christian service and those who live their lives for this world. To say that we don’t expect Christian truckers to haul only holy cargo or Christian salesmen to sell only Bibles or Christian CEOs to be the head of only Christian business concerns does not negate the teaching of Biblical Separation. Let me cite some clear examples:

Christian School teachers are in full time Christian service while teachers who are Christians and teach in the public schools are not.
Christian bookstore owners are part of a holy ministry while Christians who own bookstores that sell worldly goods are not.
Christian retailers who sell Thomas Kindade paintings and Precious Moments figurines are living a sanctified life while Christians who are retailing for the world are sell-outs to profits.
Christian doctors and nurses who practice on the foreign field are missionaries for the gospel of Christ while those who practice in this country are part of the greed-obsessed worldly Health Care System.
Christian lawyers who devote their time to Christian causes like the Rutherford Institute and Jay Sekulow practice law as a ministry but if someone graduates from Liberty University’s Law school and goes into practice for himself, he has sold his soul to mammon.

So is it any wonder that I have no problem making a distinction between musicians who want to make a difference for God and musicians who simply want to make a living? It is pretty obvious that if I were to get out of the Fire Insurance business (helping folks escape eternal damnation) and went to work for State Farm or Allstate, I would be a sell-out to the world. I have no worldly ambition to make a name for myself. I don’t seek fame and notoriety. I am simply serving God.

The second reason for eschewing the notion of a crossover Christian is the mistaken belief that we can participate in the world without being of the world. Crossover Christians want the best of both worlds. They want to “make a difference for Christ” and “impact lives for eternity” while enjoying the fame and fortune of this world’s children. These are people who think that a Christian can be popular and wealthy and still be spiritual at the same time. Sadly, this is not the case. There are no examples in the Bible of Christians who enjoyed closeness to God and personal or financial success. The Levites were called to be separate and were forbidden an inheritance because God was their inheritance. If we are to enjoy the privileges of priesthood of the believer, we need to adhere to the same mentality. Anyone who thinks they can have financial freedom and popularity doesn’t understand that the way of the Godly Christian is hard, perilous, persecuted and unappreciated by the world. I would even go so far as to say that anyone who is experiencing financial and personal success while claiming to be a follower of Christ is really deluding himself.

When one compromises the word of God with the world, it is always the world that wins. The article makes my point:
"We kind of leave that open," Cordoba says. "We don't shy away from our faith, but, at the same time, we don't really think of ourselves as a hardcore ministry band, either. We're just trying to set a good example with our music."
Leaving a song's meaning up to listeners is the hallmark of this subtle new strain of Christian rock.
"This blurring of the lines between Christian and secular music is very significant," says Scott Veigel, program manager for WAY-FM. "These soldiers of faith are going out there saying, 'I certainly wear the clothes, but I don't want any boundaries on what I'm doing.'

This is clear proof that these Christian musicians, so called, have lost their reason for being. The article even says that the musicians care more about the music (if that’s what you want to call the noise they put out) than they do the message. What ever happened to the good old days when the message was what mattered, even when the music was unpopular with the world? That is the way things ought to be. Anything that has appeal for the world is not of God because only worldly music draws worldly people. Godly music draws only godly people. So crossover music that is popular is, by definition, ungodly and should hold no allure for spiritual Christians.

Finally, we need to be aware of how weak and tender a thing the Truth is. It is so delicate that it requires every effort on our part to keep it from being tainted, even a little bit. It is like a delicate orchid that only grows and blossoms when the conditions are just right. If we mix even the tiniest bit of error with the Truth then it isn’t 100% pure which makes it 100% wrong. Crossing over into the secular world destroys the power of the Word of God to speak and quenches the ability of the Holy Spirit to awaken the hearts of those who hear the “message” these bands put out. From my vantage point these bands would be better off singing the old hymns to the faithful who appreciate them than to sing their compromising corruption of the Truth to those who can’t discern it anyway.

Sing joyfully to the LORD , you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him.
Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.
Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.

Psalm 33:1-3 (NIV)

2004-09-17T09:09:00.000-05:00

Due Decorum

One of the most important things I do as a good Pharisee pastor is to provide opportunities for younger preachers to get experience preaching in church. I think it is good for them to get a chance to speak before a real church audience instead of their school buddies and it is good for my people to have a break from the normal routine of my preaching. So once a year I invite a young Pharisee preacher to step into the pulpit and share a word. After what happened last week, I may be forced to discontinue this practice. Keep in mind that this is the pulpit over which God has made me an overseer and my first job is to protect the sheep under my care from error. Young preachers today are getting more and more liberal and compromising and our Pharisee denomination has not been spared in the slide to worldliness. At the same time these cocky youngsters are becoming more defiant of the age, experience and wisdom of their elders. Let me tell you what happened.

The young man came into the church and introduced himself well enough, but when I asked if he were going to dress before he got up to preach, he looked at me as if I had asked if he had two noses. He seemed to think that he was already dressed, even though – and this will come as a shock to you, I’m sure – he was not wearing a tie. I loaned him one of my extras from the office and nearly gagged on my rebuke at his lack of appreciation. He looked at the tie as if he had never seen one before and said he had been hoping for a clip-on. Imagine a Pharisee preacher who doesn’t even know how to tie a tie. I don’t know what they are teaching them in seminary these days but it must not be much if they aren’t learning to dress properly.

Things went steadily downhill from there. He started to set up a computer and a projector and I thought he was going to lead us in some of the modern praise and worship choruses before the sermon which is bad enough. That would have been nothing compared to what he ended up doing. It turns out he did his entire sermon on PowerPoint slides. This was bad enough but he not only included his scripture and notes but he also had songs that played on cue, animated text and graphics and worst of all – movie clips. He then made an appeal for anyone who was touched by the message to come forward and make a public spectacle of themselves (actually he called it a “commitment” but we all know what he meant). I was pleased to see that none of my folks were taken in by this theatrical performance and only a few of the younger members and teens shook his hand on the way out.

After church, I always take the young preacher boys out to eat but with this fellow I wish I had not. Our discussion over dinner centered on his use of worldly methods of preaching the gospel and how his compromise with secularism was watering down the word of God. At first he listened patiently as the young should when being addressed by their superiors. He objected to what I said of course, but he then went on to lecture me about being stuck in the 19th Century as if I were the one at fault. Our exchange got more and more heated until the volume had risen beyond the level of civil conversation. About this time I lost my appetite and stormed out of the restaurant leaving him with the check. He quickly paid and followed me out only to continue his tirade on how we need to use new methods to reach a new generation with the gospel. I told him that he was not welcome in my pulpit and would never be invited back and I would do my best to see that he never preached in another Pharisee church again. He accused me of being so picky that, “If the apostle Paul came to your church you wouldn’t let him preach in your pulpit.”

Aside from the fact that this young man was no apostle Paul, his words are without any basis or foundation. I would most certainly invite Paul to speak in my pulpit and would be glad to have him. I am convinced that Paul would be willing to exchange his robes for a suit and tie and dress with the necessary ministerial dignity and decorum. He would have to lay his rabbinic phylacteries and tasseled prayer shawl aside but other than that he would be most welcome in our church. There are a few things I would watch out for like:

He would need to keep his sermon under 40 minutes and not go on past midnight like he did in Acts.
He would have to swear allegiance to our brand of Pharisaism in order to be welcome in our church.
He would need to avoid controversial issues like election and predestination.
He would have to use the right version of the Bible and not any of the contemporary translations like he did in his own day.
It would probably be best if he were to marry since he should be the husband of one wife as taught in his letter to Timothy.
He couldn’t work for a living like he did in Corinth or else it would compromise his full time minister status.
He ought not to let women teach men like Priscilla did when she helped Aquila teach Apollos in Corinth.
He will need to refrain from meddling in internal church disputes like he did in Philippi with Euodia and Syntyche.
He will need to take a firmer stand against slavery instead of telling Onesimus to go back to Philemon and be a good slave.
He will need to keep himself out of prison.
He will have to avoid causing riots.
He will need to restrict himself to preaching in the church and not going into the streets and market places and institutions of higher learning and preaching there.
He will have to stay out of synagogues, temples and other Jewish houses of worship since no good Christian would ever do as he did in the New Testament and preach the gospel first of all to Jews before going on to Gentiles.

Other than these and some other minor things, I would have no trouble with the apostle Paul preaching in my church. Clearly, the writings of the apostle are what provide the foundation for my ministry. I am a very doctrinal and theological preacher. Most of the other books of the Bible do not contain doctrine in a systematic manner like the Pauline epistles so I rarely preach from them. Instead I rely heavily on the words of Paul. So it only seems natural that if I am going to preach from the writings of Paul that I would be willing to have Paul speak at my church. I would even be happy to loan him one of my ties so he would be properly attired for ministry.

You are looking only on the surface of things. If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as he.
2 Corinthians 10:7 (NIV)

2004-07-23T21:27:00.000-05:00

Lying Lies and the Liars Who Lie Them

Christians today are leaving the “faith once delivered to the saints” in droves. I have never seen the like. People are abandoning their place in the True Pharisee Church and joining the “mixed multitude” that celebrates the spirit of compromise so prevalent in carnal Christianity. Why are people deserting their dedication to the higher calling to be a sacred remnant? In a word – false teachers. The influence of evil teachers lures many weak God-fearing Christians into the clutches of conciliation with the world instead of practicing Biblical Separation. Let me state up front that it is the duty of every good Pharisee pastor to do the following:

Identify false teachers by pointing out every single error in their ministries.
Avoid these deceivers at all costs. Don’t buy their books. Don’t listen to their tapes and CDs. Don’t tune into their radio or TV broadcasts.
Educate your church members about why they need to avoid them as well. Spend a significant portion of every sermon naming names and pointing out the error of their ways. Follow up with strong cautions against having anything to do with these non-Pharisee purveyors of deceit

This column is too small to list all of the popular deceivers but suffice to say that if they are on the television, radio or are being sold in a Family Christian bookstore, the chances are pretty good that they are false teachers. The Bible says that man is a liar -- "with their tongues they have used deceit" (Romans 3:13). Paul proclaimed, "Let God be true, and every man a liar." Jeremiah says man's heart is "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked" (Jer. 17:9). It should be abundantly clear that all men are liars. It is only by God’s grace and my superior spiritual fortitude that my fellow Pharisee pastors and I have overcome this egregious human flaw. Generally, if someone who is not a sound Bible-believing Pharisee says something then it is most likely a lie. If a Pharisee says it, then it is most assuredly true.

Even more dangerous than the lies that theses false teachers tell, is their spirit of deception. Many folks are taken in by their apparent sincerity and seeming devotion to God. But see what the Bible says about such teachers: "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 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). A calculated deception on their part is that they appear to be honest, truth-loving folks. These spiritual hustlers are not going to come to you and say, “I am a liar and am trying to deceive you.” Instead, they will try to convince you of their earnest dedication to the Lord and how much they love God. Undoubtedly, some of these folks may be sincere but they are sincerely deceived if they hold to false doctrine.

And this is the greatest danger of false teachers: they lie. They lie to others; they even lie to themselves. Of these Paul said, "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived" (2 Tim. 3:13). This is even more insidious than their lies to us. It is one thing for them to try to deceive their followers but they are lying to each other and believing one another’s lies. They are deceived by their own deception. What’s worse, they are so deceived that they don’t even know they are deceived. Unlike us wise Pharisees who have had our eyes opened to the Truth of God’s word, we are under no delusions that we are deceived. We know the Truth and we know with utmost certainty that we know the truth. False teachers may think they know the Truth for certain, but they lack the discernment we have to recognize that they are thoroughly deceived by their own error.

Every good Pharisee knows and teaches that God demands that His people separate from false teachers. The Bible tells us, "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple." (Romans 16:17,18) Let me illustrate the depth of their perversion and dishonesty. False teachers would say that our strict practice of separation fosters division and that we are the ones Paul is warning against in this verse. The truth is that Pharisees are not the ones who cause division by separating from false teachers. Because false teachers insist on teaching their heresies, the Bible forces us to separate from them. They are causing the division by not holding to the truth like us good Pharisee churches.

And why should Christians be so concerned about being lured into falsehood? It is because the stakes are so high. Just look at the cost to Christians who mingle their pure faith with those who would sprinkle just a tiny little bit of error into it:

They lose their part in the Bride of Christ – this relegates them to being mere “guests” at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb mentioned in Revelation 19. This is a loss of heavenly status making them nothing more than second-class believers in God’s coming Kingdom. And those of us who are True Christians recognize that status in this life and are forced to treat them as the carnal Christians that they are. It is our job to “leave Issachar alone because he has joined himself to idols” in a manner of speaking. Shunning second-class carnal Christians is how we help maintain our purity of faith.
They lose their influence with God – God stops listening to their prayers after they corrupt their faith with the world’s error. And not only does he stop listening but he also stops answering prayers. One of the chief causes that Christians don’t get their prayers answered is that they have an impure faith that countenances corrupting convictions instead of maintaining their doctrinal purity. So not only do they lose blessings in the life to come but they lose them here on earth as well. “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you” the book of I Corinthians tells us because they lack the doctrinal purity God requires.
They destroy their testimonies – These Christians who fail to dot every i and cross every t correctly have no real influence in the world. They are unable to evangelize successfully. They stick out like a sore thumb to a world that is desperately craving doctrinal purity. The trouble is that they are also prone to lead the unbelieving into the same error they have fallen into and are giving reassurances to people that their names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life when really they are consigned to eternal fiery torment. Absolute doctrinal purity is an essential for entrance into heaven and those who don’t have it will be sorely disappointed in the Day of Judgment when they are denied admittance to the Kingdom.

Every good Pharisee should make sure that they maintain a pure faith by listening only to Pharisee preachers, reading only Pharisee authors and going only to Pharisee churches. We all know better than to attend any church that is not of the Pharisee denomination but we sometimes forget that para-church ministries are every bit as evil and insidious as their denominational counterparts. This is why good Pharisees don’t send their dollars to World Vision, don’t attend Promise Keepers rallies, don’t work with Habitat for Humanity, and never listen to Focus on the Family.

Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Galatians 6:10 (NIV)
Gamaliel/rjp

2004-07-04T15:51:00.000-05:00

HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN

Normally, I would devote this week's column to promoting every Pharisee's duty to support the biblical and moral position of conservative Americanism but I feel that I have to address one of the greatest threats to patriotic Christian America - Harry Potter. I had determined not to address this topic because I have already covered it in the past but recent events have forced me to wade into the fray once again. The amazing popularity of the new Harry Potter movie threatens to undermine the very moral fabric of our country. We are teetering on the edge of disaster and this movie could push us into the abyss. It threatens the very foundations of what made this Christian nation the great godly country it is. Harry Potter seeks to replace the biblical underpinnings of morality with a belief in the spirit world, something no self-respecting Christian would ever subscribe to.

Let me state first of all that I have not seen the new Harry Potter movie, nor do I intend to. I have heard enough about it from rumors, press releases and television advertisements to know that no spiritual Christian should ever want to view this movie. Harry Potter is the very antithesis of what makes for an American Hero. This week's column will show why Harry Potter makes such a bad champion for children by contrasting him with a truly American role model, John Wayne.

First of all, Harry Potter encourages kids to go to movies. As we all know, movies are godless propaganda machines seeking to undermine the Christian principles taught in our Pharisee churches. The Harry Potter books are nothing more than teasers for the movies. John Wayne movies promote no such thing. Since there are no new John Wayne movies, you can only see them on television. So, unlike Harry Potter, they encourage Christians to stay at home rather than support the liberal Hollywood elite. Not only that, John Wayne movies encourage people to read Zane Grey and Louis L'Amour books instead of encouraging them to see more movies.

Tools of the trade: Harry Potter is a bad role model because he uses magic to solve his problems and fight "evil" in the movies. As everyone knows, magic is evil incarnate so it cannot be used to fight evil. Using evil to fight evil is a fiction that Hollywood loves to promote. John Wayne, by contrast, never resorts to magic or any other wicked means to suppress the forces of evil. Instead, he uses guns, a legitimate means of safeguarding our freedom guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the constitution. We all know that guns, unlike magic wands, are not evil in themselves and are turned to good or evil purposes by the people wielding them. Ask yourself this question: What would you rather see - kids running around pretending to zap one another with magic wands or kids running around playing with toy guns pretending to shoot one another? Clearly, I would rather see children pretending to kill one another with guns than wands.

Violence: Harry Potter movies have turned out to be some of the most violent movies ever made in recent days. Not only that but it is violence of a horrid sort at a place where children should be made to feel safe - their school. John Wayne movies are violent but in a completely different way. The creators of Harry Potter use violence in a purely gratuitous fashion and never justify its use. The creators of John Wayne movies only use violence as a last resort. John Wayne never sought to go to war as a matter of choice or preference. He went to war because it was his duty. He never hit a man for no reason in his movies but only used his fists when he was forced to. Harry Potter turns out to be a mischievous imp who invents all sorts of violent things purely for their own sake.

Respect for Authority: Harry Potter is in every way a rule-breaker. He feels like the rules are for other people and not for him. This rebellious attitude and situational ethics erodes the foundation of compliance that we need for this country to be great. When kids see Harry Potter rebelling against authority, then they are going to feel justified in rebelling against authority. John Wayne epitomized that American virtue of blindly following orders, regardless of the personal consequences to himself and those around him. We would never see John Wayne questioning whether the government was right or wrong in going to war. His duty was clear - to kill as many of the godless, heathen enemy as he could. The Christian virtues of Duty, Honor, Country are sadly missing in our churches today and Harry Potter is one of the leading reasons why they are missing.

Language: I have been told that the Harry Potter books in England contain some bad words. This only serves to highlight the breakdown of morality in this country. Language standards have been declining for years and they only continue to get worse. Harry's use of the occasional four-letter word merely hastens the moral decline of our youth. I admit that on occasion, John Wayne may have said a curse word or two but that is because those words were included in the script. John Wayne was not known for his cursing and his movies, when they are shown on the right television channels, have all the curse words bleeped out, thus making him wholesome fare for the family. Harry Potter is wholly unsuitable for viewing by anyone, and especially young children. The same is true with cigarettes and alcohol. These were only plot devices in the movie. John Wayne's consumption of alcohol and smoking of cigarettes were only to establish character. Real American Christians can easily overlook these peccadilloes because of all the godly virtues the movies promote. It's simply a matter of eating the fish and throwing away the bones.

Americanism: Finally, Harry Potter isn't even American. His books and movies are created by English people. America should not allow itself to be influenced by the very country we rebelled against almost 230 years ago. We all know that England is peopled by liberal heathen who have low standards of morality and conduct. We should only consume American culture that promotes the godly biblical values of Americanism, patriotism, capitalism and rebellion against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

GAMALIEL
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."
MATTHEW 23:27-28 (NIV)

2004-07-04T08:07:00.000-05:00

Pastoral Standards

I continue to be dismayed and disgusted at the low standards pastors are setting for themselves in the ministry nowadays. It is one thing for non-Pharisee pastors to have such abysmal standards of personal conduct because I never expected much from them, but now I am seeing even good Pharisee preachers succumbing to the siren song of slovenly standards. The last straw for me was when I saw a pastor coming out of a movie house dressed in jeans, tank top and shoes with no socks. I could not have been more shocked than if he had come out of a tattoo parlor carrying a beer!

Let me state first of all that God has always had high standards for those who lead his people. This was true of the Levites under Moses and the Judges after Joshua. You won't find any unseemly behavior from these folks without the wrath of God falling on them for the least infraction. And that was in the Old Testament. We are living now under the New Covenant, which has a much higher standard than anything that was allowed in the Old. David made a perfectly acceptable king with his adulterous, murdering behavior but no church in its right mind would ever let him be a member in good standing, let alone call him to be a pastor.

The trouble I see is that people place high standards where they ought to be low and low standards where they should be high. Let me start with some of the things that are NOT required of a good Pharisee pastor.

o A good education - The apostles never went to seminary or held theological degrees and the Bible doesn't hold any such requirement for us today. They were regarded as unlearned in their day (Acts 4:13) and even Paul says God uses foolish preachers to confound the wise. Good Pharisee pastors are self-educated in the Word of God, not educated in the God-dishonoring seminaries and institutions of "higher" learning of today.

o Impressive looks and demeanor - The apostle Paul was contemptible in appearance and good Pharisee pastors should seek to emulate him by looking poor and humble as well. We are to be clothed with godliness, righteousness and humility, not the finery of this world. The more humble I look, the more impressive I truly am.

o Wealth and connections - Good Pharisee pastors actually take pride in their poverty. Since money is the root of all evil as Paul warns Timothy, we should seek to avoid any appearance of evil by eschewing worldly wealth. We never see anyone of earthly means in the Bible blessed or highly regarded by God. So we should never seek even the appearance of being well off. Instead we are to be true to the ministry and righteously condemn those who gain a profit from the work of God as unworthy servants. We aren't in it for the money and we prove it by not having much. Anyone who makes a good living in the ministry is clearly in the wrong line of business since they are reaping man's blessings and not God's.

o Speaking ability - Good Pharisee pastors don't need to be articulate or eloquent. Our speech is not with wisdom as the world speaks but we should be plain and ordinary in our speech. In fact, the best Pharisee preachers are the ones who are the worst speakers because they are depending on God to get the message through, not themselves. Speakers such as you hear on radio and television that are polished, skilled and oratorical are to be mistrusted because they are likely depending on their own ability, not the Holy Spirit, to convey the message of God. I am justifiably proud of my poor public speaking ability because it is evidence of my humility before God. Anything that I manage to say is a reflection of His glory because if anybody gets anything out of my messages it must be God speaking through me since I have so little ability on my own.

o The expectations of the crowd - people who expect great natural talents, leadership ability and charisma should expect instead to be disappointed in a True Man of God. We are none of those things. The last thing I should seek to do as a Proclaimer of the Truth of God's Word is to seek to please the crowd. If I run into a pastor who has the admiration of the crowd and appeals to a wide audience, like Billy Graham, I know that he is a compromiser who is sacrificing the Truth of God's Word on the altar of popular appeal. We all know that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. This means that God's Truth doesn't appeal to worldly people. So popular preachers, by definition, are not godly preachers since God's message of sin, condemnation and judgment is not a popular one.

So what are God's standards? Simple. He must be blameless according to I Timothy 3:1-5. It is clear from this passage that a Pharisee pastor must be married and he must have been married only once to one wife. No polygamists. He cannot be divorced and remarried. God may forgive him for his sin, but such forgiveness does not qualify him for ministry. To be honest, a Pharisee preacher can't be divorced at all since he clearly is not blameless, he is not ruling his own house well, he is not a good example to his flock and he can't preach against divorce with authority since he is guilty of this grievous sin himself. And those Pharisee preachers who are married need to make sure they are in a good relationship with their wives. Many a man has been disqualified from ministry in the eyes of God for not having his wife in due subjection.

He must also have his children under subjection too. A pastor with rebellious children is unfit for the ministry just as much as a divorced pastor. That is why, when my grown son went on a rebellious streak and started pastoring a non-Pharisee church, I disowned him as my son. If he wasn't going to yield to my authority as his father, then he wasn't going to be my son any longer. This is how I keep my family under control. Some consider this harsh, but I have to behave in a manner consistent with my convictions. Otherwise, how would I have any credibility when I call down younger Pharisee pastors who have children with a poor testimony in the community by wearing their hair in outlandish styles or listening to so-called Christian rock music? It is precisely this sort of low living that hurts the testimony of the ministry.

Even folks who call themselves good Pharisee pastors have dropped their standards and are failing to maintain that distinct separation between themselves and the general populace. I have seen the spirit of compromise creep into modern ministerial thought under a number of guises but all of them come down to the fallacy that preachers are fallible human beings just like everyone else. There is no sense of the high and holy calling that permeates True Ministry and elevates the Pharisee pastor to a spiritual level to which lesser Christians may only aspire, not obtain. Why, if the modern ministers of "grace" (as they call themselves) had their way, the ministry would turn into nothing more than common ordinary men leading other common ordinary folk into spiritual ruin. Today's column is an attempt to inspire today's pastors to maintain the moral and social distinctions that separate the spiritual clergy from the carnal laity.

I Timothy 3:2-3 tells us that a pastor is to be blameless in his personal life. This means that there can be absolutely no evidence of moral failure evident in his life. I would no sooner follow a pastor who attends movies or has a tattoo than I would follow a pastor who is a drunkard or a liar. Pastors who show moral lassitude by entering the pulpit without a tie on or using modern per-versions of the Bible are no more fit to be in the ministry than the self-help gurus of our day. There are so many areas where pastors must remain blameless that I cannot list all of them but I will hit some of the highlights based on Paul's writings to young Timothy.

o "Not given to wine," means that pastors today should not only be total abstainers from alcoholic beverages in all forms but they should never frequent establishments where alcohol is served. I realize that this eliminates most eateries but it is a price I am willing to pay so as not to damage my testimony. Some would say I am hypocritical for not eating at restaurants that serve alcohol while shopping at a grocery store where alcohol is dispensed. However, since I can find no grocery where alcohol is not sold, then I am forced to go there to shop. This does not damage my testimony because people know that I don't drink alcohol. If I went to restaurants that served alcohol, they might get the notion that I've "fallen off the wagon."

o "No striker" means that we Pharisees are a peaceful bunch and would never retaliate against those who wrong us unjustly. Some would call my justifiable reaction to the poor driving habits of others to be a violation of this but I am sure Paul did not have road rage in mind when he wrote to young Timothy. He was speaking of engaging in fistfights of which I have not been guilty for several years.

o "Not a brawler" confirms this and shows that the good Pharisee pastor is not an argumentative type of person. I am for the most part a gentle, meek and peaceable person except in the defense of the faith. Jude tells us to earnestly contend for the faith and matters of godliness, spirituality and Biblical Truth are worth brawling over. Combating the forces of spiritual wickedness is not what Paul had in mind.

o "Not self-willed" is a characteristic listed in Titus 1:7. The good Pharisee pastor does not rule the flock of God by his own will but by God's will. The church does not belong to the pastor but to God. However, as God's designated representative, my words proclaim the will of God to people and they are compelled to follow it as the voice of God Himself. People need to realize that when I speak and proclaim the commands of God, I am doing this for their own good. These are not my opinions, thoughts and feelings but the very opinions, thoughts and feelings of God that I address.

o "Not soon angry" covers my self-control in all things not related to the Truth of God. Being angry on God's behalf is no sin. And the sooner we get angry about the right things, the better off the world will be.

In addition to these, the good Pharisee pastor needs to be able to teach against and deal with false doctrine. Too many pastors today don't even know the difference between falsehood and error. They trade God's truth for personal opinion and preference. I have even heard some wishy-washy pastors go so far as to try and convince me that God is "uninterested in musical styles so long as the message is honoring to Him." What unmitigated garbage! Of course God is interested in musical styles. We never see people worshipping God with drums, cymbals, guitars and such in the Bible. The only acceptable musical instruments are pianos and organs - and not the electric ones with all the fancy doo-dads like rhythm and instrumental tracks. Good Pharisees stand against the spirit of compromise with the world that invites their instruments into our holy churches today and thereby pollutes them with worldly ways.

Finally, a good Pharisee pastor is known by his sobriety. He must be in control of his mind, his house, his church and his life. A pastor who is not in control is unfit for the ministry. Pastors today lose control of their minds to influences of all sorts like unwholesome radio and television programs that glorify the wickedness of the world. They should only watch athletic events and news programs that promote only the higher and nobler elements of human endeavor and are untainted by the secularizing influences of the world. They should avoid magazines that promote sensuality in its basest forms. Everyone knows that gossip magazines like People are unfit for consumption but there are more subtle publications that twist the Christian mind toward secularism, tolerance of error, and even explicit nudity like National Geographic. The good Pharisee pastor would put no unclean thing before his eyes.

In conclusion I can only say that the best Pharisee pastors live a life far superior to any in their congregation and are intolerant of error in all its forms. Too many pastors are more concerned with popularity and building a big church than they are with purity and maintaining a small but godly flock of sheep. It is our job to make sure the Bride of Christ remains pure and sinless so we can present it to him a glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. The blood of Christ is a good start in that direction but the application of the water of the Word and the hyssop of good preaching will keep her pure and precious before Him.

"By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
John 13:35 (NIV)

The Pharisee Bible

2004-05-31T06:00:00.000-05:00

I hesitate to enter the debate on which version or translation of Scripture is the best, but since I receive this question often enough I feel that it is time I added my opinion to the fray.

Let me say first of all that any arguments about the “accuracy” of a translation are largely red herrings. True, some translations may be closer in form to the original vernacular but that does not necessarily make them more accurate. All languages are filled with figures of speech that lose meaning through translations. We may translate the literal words but that doesn’t mean we have translated what those words mean in the way they are used.
When we say, “A horse of a different color” we are not referring to a literal horse. Anyone not familiar with English would need to have this phrase explained to them if it were translated into their language. This is why we say things are, “lost in the translation.”

I use the Authorized Version and do so for a very important reason. The form of English in this version is archaic and fell out of common usage hundreds of years ago. As a result, most people who read this version of the scriptures find it difficult to read and are easily frustrated in their attempts to read through the Bible. So they don’t read it at all. If they ever do manage to read through the Bible, their comprehension is so low; they get very little from the experience. This is the chief reason for sticking to the Authorized Version of the Scriptures.

“But shouldn’t everyone read the Word?” you ask. Of course they should! Scripture reading is one of the signs of spirituality. It is a devotion to reading the word that sets us Spiritual Christians apart from the Carnal Christians that make up the bulk of Christianity. If Bible-reading were easy, then everyone would do it and we wouldn’t have much to brag about as Spiritual Christians, would we? No, for daily Bible reading to have value, it must be difficult and something worth bragging about.

“What if they read through the Bible and still don’t understand it?” is another question I receive. Of course they can’t understand it – they are not Spiritual. Only Spiritual Christians can understand the Authorized Version of the Bible. Their lack of understanding is once again a proof of their carnality. If they would spend more time in the word, then they would understand it, wouldn’t they? But they are lazy Christians and so they aren’t as dedicated to the Word as we are. Thus they are inferior Carnal Christians and should be made to feel guilty for not reading their Bibles.

If they claim to read a modern translation, then we say that it is an inferior translation and doesn’t contain the richness of meaning of the “original.” We say they can’t possibly understand fully what God means if they read from one of these inferior modern translations which are full of errors and mistranslations.

Another benefit to their ignorance is that they have to come to us for answers. What if the Bible were easy to understand and anyone could read it for himself? Where would that put us? Why, we would be out of a job. No, it’s better for us to force people to hold on to a Bible version that they don’t read and can’t understand so we can be the ones who truly know what the Bible says. That way, they keep coming to us for answers and we maintain our Spiritual superiority.

“And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!”

Mark 7:9 (NIV)

2004-05-14T06:32:00.000-05:00

Fighting Fundy-phobia

America has come a long way in establishing equality and appreciation for minorities of every sort except one: fundamentalists. In fact, there is an increasing level of hate-mongering among the general populace who have not taken the time or made an effort to understand fundamentalists. We term this attitude "fundy-phobia". Fundamentalists remain the last unprotected minority in America today and it is time to bring an end to the hate speech, discrimination and vilification of fundamentalists and the fundamentalist lifestyle.

While many fundamentalists have come out of the closet and live an openly fundamentalist lifestyle, the vast majority of them lead normal lives just like the average citizen. They are not all flag-waving, placard-carrying marchers in Fundamentalist Pride parades. These are just the ones who get media attention. Most fundamentalists live peaceably in their neighborhoods; contribute to the civic health of their cities and support community initiatives. Fundamentalists are generally good Americans.

Fundamentalist Myths

Myth: You can spot fundamentalists by the way they dress.

Fact: While many fundamentalists do wear distinctive dress or dress in a culturally unique way (like fundamentalist women who never wear slacks, make-up or cut their hair), this is by no means common among all of them. Most fundamentalists dress like ordinary people. While it may be possible to identify someone dressed in a particular way as a fundamentalist, it is a mistake to assume that all fundamentalists dress the same way or even in a way distinct from the general population. Nor can you assume that people who have a fish symbol or some other identifying decal on their car are fundamentalists. They may be the parent, sibling or child of a fundamentalist; or they may have simply bought a used car from a fundamentalist. Assumptions about a person's religious orientation can prove embarrassing so don't jump to conclusions about a person's particular lifestyle based on externals.

Myth: You can tell someone is a fundamentalist if they never swear or take the Lord's name in vain.

Fact: Just like one cannot assume that all people who affect lisping voice and speech patterns are homosexuals, one cannot assume that all people who do not swear are fundamentalists. Many groups avoid the use of strong language or taking the Lord's name in vain and to assume that that person is a fundamentalist based solely on the way they talk is offensive to them as well as to fundamentalists.

Myth: Fundamentalists are mostly uneducated, work in low wage jobs and tend to concentrate in certain industries.

Fact: Many fundamentalists have graduated from college and gone on to get advanced degrees. Some of these highly educated individuals excel in all areas of commerce. It is possible to find fundamentalists in institutions of higher learning, science, technology and corporate boardrooms. While certain industries like Christian bookstores and Christian schools may have a high percentage of fundamentalists working for them, it is a mistake to think that there are none in your workplace. Just because you don't know any fundamentalists doesn't mean they aren't there. It may mean they don't feel comfortable "coming out" in your workplace or around you.

Myth: Fundamentalism is a mental or emotional disorder.

Fact: The research on fundamentalism is very clear. Fundamentalism is neither a mental illness nor moral depravity. Studies of judgment, stability, reliability, and social and vocational adaptiveness all show that fundamentalists function every bit as well as everyone else. Some people erroneously believe that people are born fundamentalist or with a predisposition to fundamentalism. Others hypothesize that there is a "fundy gene" that makes certain people susceptible to fundamentalism but research in this area is inconclusive at best. At the very least, there is no way to predict who may or may not become a fundamentalist as many times people don't discover their true religious orientation until relatively late in life.

Myth: Once a fundamentalist, always a fundamentalist.

Fact: Many people have left fundamentalism that were previously fundamentalists. By the same token, others experiment with fundamentalism without fully committing to it and adopting a fundamentalist lifestyle. They are exploring their own moral beliefs and a brief foray into fundamentalism does not make them fundamentalist. The chief misconception is that fundamentalism is a "disorder" and that people need to be "cured" in order to leave. In point of fact, efforts to forcibly change deeply held religious beliefs are ineffective and can be harmful. Fundamentalists who have accepted their religious orientation are better adjusted than those who have not done so.

Myth: All fundies…

Fact: First of all, the use of pejorative names is offensive to fundamentalists as well as those who are sensitive to diversity issues. We have learned that language can be oppressive when used to label or marginalize minority groups. Gays, people of color and women have campaigned long and hard to increase awareness of how damaging hate speech can be. It is time we recognized that fundamentalists have the same rights and treat them with respect. Secondly, there is nothing that is true of "all" fundamentalists. They represent a diverse group of individuals with varying temperaments, dispositions, attitudes, feelings and outlooks. We do them a disservice by stereotyping them or categorizing them with uncomplimentary language.

Fundamentalist Issues

Many people feel that fundamentalists are brainwashed or "recruited". Instead, they are people who have discovered their orientation as a process of maturing. There is a great deal of unwarranted prejudice against them and many people feel that fundamentalists are unfit parents who will only raise up another generation of fundamentalists. Statistics show that over 85% of children raised by fundamentalist parents reject fundamentalism and go on to live a normal lifestyle. Fundamentalists are just as capable of providing a positive, nurturing environment for children as their non-fundamentalist counterparts.

Fundamentalists today remain one of the last unprotected minorities in America. While it is considered in poor taste to tell jokes based on race, gender, sexual orientation or national origin; it is still socially acceptable to make fun of fundamentalists. There is no national recognition of fundamentalists as a marginalized group and many people don't even recognize them as a legitimate minority. This denies them equal protection under the law and there has not been a single successful case in our courts of a fundamentalist who has been the object of discrimination who has been protected by the law. Frequently fundamentalists are the objects of violence and many law enforcement agencies are reluctant to protect them because, in the words of officials, "they were asking for it by displaying their lifestyle in such an outrageous way."

If you are concerned about these or other issues, we are here to help. The Fundwall Union exists to educate, inform and promote the rights of fundamentalists. You can be supportive by:

• Avoid hateful words - don't call them "fundies"

• Don't laugh at fundamentalist jokes

• Use inclusive language - don't say things like "you people" or "your kind"

• Encourage open-mindedness and tolerance

• Recognize diversity - not everyone shares your religious orientation so celebrate diversity among others

• If someone comes out to you, know that it is a big deal - be sensitive to people who share (and those who choose not to share) important aspects of their identity with you

• Don't assume that someone is not a fundamentalist just because they haven't told you so. Not everyone chooses to disclose their religious orientation.

rick

"By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

John 13:35 (NIV)

2004-05-08T08:27:00.000-05:00

Persecuting Persecutors

One of the things I do as a Pharisee pastor is to inform my reading public of the state of the Persecuted Church. I try to keep close ties on martyrs for the faith in other countries and pray fervently for their freedom. An important part of my ministry is informing others of the desperate plight of these dear persecuted saints. I had no idea that my e-ministry of keeping people apprised of this vital information would be a source of criticism.

A harshly critical "brother" who had been removed from my Pharisee Phundamentals group for being so contrary to the plain truth continues to send me his vituperative e-mails. Before I put him on a "blocked senders" list he managed to accuse my ministry for martyrs as an exercise in hypocrisy. He claimed that he wanted to know how I could admonish people to pray for the persecuted church in China
, the Sudan and around the world when, according to him, I wouldn't "spit on a non-Pharisee church in this country if it were on fire." What he fails to understand is that the non-Pharisee churches in America are all purveyors of falsehood, lies and perverters of the faith and deserve to burn. The persecuted church, by virtue of its persecution, is kept pure and spotless from the taint of false doctrine and is deserving of our prayers and support.

He told me that it is dishonest for me to preach against the modern English versions of the Bible and then pay to send "modern" versions of the Bible to other countries. In this he only reveals his ignorance rather than wisdom. Churches in America who do not use the Authorized Version of the Bible are preaching a false gospel because they do not have the pure and spotless Word of God. I am not hypocritical for sending Bibles to other lands that are not the Authorized Version for one very simple reason. They don't speak English. An Authorized Version would do them no good. There is nothing wrong with sending them The Infallible, Inspired Word of God in their own language. The whole issue of Bible versions doesn't come up in these counties for another simple reason: they only have one version of the Bible in their native tongue. Therefore whatever they have IS the word of God in their language. If it weren't then God wouldn't preserve it. It is only in English that we see the proliferation of per-versions of the Bible.

Nor am I a hypocrite for saying that the use of modern media devices in the church in America is a sin while others promote its use overseas. The reason is because movies, video, music and other media are inherently corrupt in America. They are the offspring of the Hellywood crowd and their evil taints everything in this country. Even Billy Graham has gotten into the act of trying to release feature films to theaters and I still refuse to go because I don't want to support establishments that show the other vile offerings of the movie industry. By contrast, the movies and other media we send overseas are pure and spotless works of Christians going into a culture that is untainted by the evil influence of American film. So, while I would never show a movie or video in my church because of its evil association in this country, it is perfectly fine for missionaries to do the same in countries where movies are not associated so closely with evil.

I could go on and on with the criticism and scorn that he heaped on me but as you can tell, he was speaking from ignorance. It is abundantly clear that the persecuted church is the True Church because if they weren't then they wouldn't be persecuted. Why would Satan waste his time persecuting his own? And the fact that false churches in America are not suffering persecution is proof that Satan is unconcerned about their state since they are already serving him. The only church in this country that is the object of such intense hatred by both those who do and don't claim the name of Christ is the Pharisee church. Come to think of it, this "brother" is actually persecuting me by calling me a hypocrite. Instead of proving me a hypocrite, he has demonstrated my faithfulness by making me a martyr to the cause of Christ.

Gamaliel/RJP

2004-05-01T06:46:00.000-05:00

WHEN UNBELIEF MASQUERADES AS BELIEF

This has been a very difficult week for me at my online Pharisee ministry. As the founder and moderator of the Pharisee Phundamentals group, I have had to remove some rather opinionated individuals who did not see eye-to-eye with the membership. Our group is not meant to be a place to "explore the meaning of Christianity in our contemporary culture" as some wish it was. Instead it is a list of like-minded Pharisees who assent to all the same truths of the Bible and express our strong misgivings about the sorry state of Christianity today. Occasionally, someone stumbles into our group and tries to get things started up on a variety of topics and this week has been one of the worst. The most insidious culprits who sneak into our group are those who claim to believe the Bible but in practice actually deny its truths.

Let me state first of all that it is easy to pay lip service to being a Bible Believer. Most of the so-called evangelical and fundamentalist denominations claim to believe the Bible. Indeed, they could not long survive if they told their congregations that they did not hold to the truth of God's word. While many of these people are sincere, we must note that they are sincerely deluded. They may think they believe the Bible but they actually believe their own denominational interpretations of the Bible.

This week I had to remove three individuals who tried to convince me that I did not believe the Bible myself. They claimed I believed in my own personal interpretation of the Bible and not the actual scriptures themselves. And then they tried to convince me that their interpretation of the Bible had just as good a chance of being right as my interpretation of the Bible. What utter blasphemy. While I don't claim to have divine knowledge, I do have access to the Holy Spirit who is able to guide me into all truth. But this week's column isn't about me; it is about those who claim to believe the Bible but substitute their opinions and preferences Bible truth.

The first proof that they don't believe the Bible is a willingness to mix the truth with error. We call this "leavening" of the truth. By mixing truth with error, they deny a true belief in I Corinthians 5:6 which says, "... Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?" These people freely admit to the possibility that their interpretation could contain error. If they would listen to me, I would assure them that not only is this a possibility, but it is a certainty that it contains error. Any position that does not exactly match mine, is one which contains error. "It's only a tiny error," they reply, "and what can be so bad about that?" Don't they understand that ANY admixture of error with the truth only corrupts the truth and makes it unfit for consumption? If we tolerate even the tiniest bit of error, we destroy the whole foundation of Truth.

These people also fail to understand the subtle, crafty nature of false teachers. No one is going to come into a church and say, "I am a false teacher." Instead they are going to look like True Christians, walk like True Christians, talk like True Christians and claim to be True Christians. But all the while they are seducers and deceivers. They only pretend to teach the truth, all the while leading people into error. They will talk about "seeker sensitive services" and "contemporary worship styles" when all they mean to do is preach a feel-good gospel and play devilish rock and roll music, all the while leading people into damnable error. These teachers are not interested in the truth or reaching the lost for Christ like good Pharisee churches, but simply want to drag down the spirituality of gullible Christians. The fact that these churches are growing and appeal to a wide range of people is proof that they are not biblical. Jesus never appealed to the masses, never had a large following or associated with sinners of the vilest sort. Nor should we.

The third evidence that they don't believe the Bible is that they rate the details in the Bible as unimportant. They want to unite on the "basic truths that we can all agree on" and all the while let important truths fall by the wayside. We should have an attitude like the Psalmist, "Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way" (Psalm 119:128) Those who say there must be freedom for "unity in diversity" don't get their ideas from the Bible. We are not allowed the liberty to abandon the clear teachings of scripture. Those who don't accept the woman's place in the church as it is stated in the Bible for example are substituting their own opinion for scripture. Yet they still claim to believe the Bible. The next thing you know they will say that passing an offering plate or having an altar call are unscriptural as well. Some things are too major to be considered "minor doctrines" not worth dividing over.

I could go on for a long time about those who claim to believe the Bible but deny it in practice. Unlike us true Bible-believing Pharisees, they believe only their interpretation of the Bible. It should be clear to you that our Pharisee churches place a high value on the word of God and would never substitute our personal opinions for it. Those who say the Bible makes no mention of smoking cigarettes as a vice and even promotes the consumption of alcohol in various places as "proof" that we add our opinions to scripture are only fooling themselves. It is their ignorance of the Truth of scripture that prevents them from seeing the Truth of God's word properly.

GAMALIEL/RJP
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath."
He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread--which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
Matthew 12:1-8 (NIV)

2004-04-23T19:15:00.000-05:00

Sadduceeism

Dear Readers,
I confess that I found myself in a pickle this week. I wanted a column where Gamaliel responded to his detractors who accused him of being a "Pharisee." Since he already wears the name with pride, I had to substitute a competing sect's name so the column would make sense. You and I know that "Sadducee" in the passage below means "Pharisee" in the common sense of how we use it today. I hope I don't confuse too many of you, so sit back and enjoy this week's missive.
rick

I have been getting a great deal of hate e-mail lately. I don't know where these people are coming from but they accuse me of being legalistic and even go so far as to call me a "Sadducee" because of my preaching on godliness and holiness. As everyone knows, the Sadducees were a Jewish sect during the time of Christ who were opposed to the teachings of Jesus and made up the bulk of the Sanhedrin that condemned Jesus to death. Jesus reserved some of his harshest words for them and it upsets me that people would accuse our good Pharisee church of being a bunch of Sadducees.

What most people who accuse us of being Sadducee zealots do not realize is that the error of Sadduceeism was not their zeal for the Word of God. In point of fact, they had no zeal for God's word. Rather, they were zealous for their interpretation of God's word. They sought to elevate and promote the cause of their own self-righteousness by interpreting the Bible to suit themselves rather than trying to find out what God really wanted and imposing that on others like we do. They wanted to set up their own religious system that allowed them to bind heavy burdens of their own making on others while trumpeting their own piety. Those of us who are genuine Pharisee believers would never stoop so low as to supplant Biblical truth with personal preference. We would never elevate Pharisee tradition and opinion over the Word of God. And we would never presume to proclaim our own piety over the worldliness of the masses.

What we really need to understand is that Jesus did not rebuke the Sadducees for their zeal in upholding the details of the law. As a matter of fact he actually praised them for doing this in Matthew 23:23. The things Jesus rebuked the Sadducees for include:

- Replacing the word of God with their own traditions (Matthew 15:1-9). Our particular branch of the Pharisee church has no traditions like the mainline denominations so we cannot supplant the word of God with those of our own making. Sure, we have some customs and things that are unique to our expression of the faith, but we would never elevate them to the level of traditions that are on par or above the Bible. The Bible promotes godly dress and the fact that we preach what godly dress is, doesn't mean we have created a "tradition" in the traditional sense. It is not a "tradition" of Pharisee churches to abstain from alcohol but a practice.
- Perverting the gospel (Matthew 12:22-24). Good Pharisees that we are, we would never add or subtract anything from the simple gospel of grace of Jesus Christ. All of the rules and conditions that we discuss in church are simply evidence that the gospel really "took" in particular individuals. We don't say that you have to live a perfect life to be saved, but we do say that if you are saved, you will endeavor - and to a great extent succeed - in leading a perfect life.
- Being self-righteous (Luke 18:9-14). We are far from self-righteous. All of our perfection, good works, conformity with the Word of God and general goodness are a result of the grace of God. We can't take any credit for the nearly sinless lives that we lead. The high standards that we maintain in living lives that are better than anyone else's are purely a result of the action of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. It is not that we live better lives because we are so good in our own selves but we have a better faith than anyone else that allows God to work in and through us in a tremendous way that is far superior to what worldly people live. And of course, all that glory goes back to God, not ourselves anyway.
- Gross hypocrisy (Mark 12:15; Luke 12:1). It is a deceptive slander to label Pharisees like us who love Jesus, honor the Bible and humble ourselves as "a bunch of Sadducees." A hypocrite is someone who pretends to be something they are not. Those of us who are true Pharisees cannot be guilty of hypocrisy because we really are godly, righteous, holy, pure and reverent at all times. It is only the one who pretends to be such but doesn't live up the standards we live up to who are hypocrites.

So Christians who stand for the Bible, including the smallest details of the word of God, who have the holy boldness to preach against error and call it what it is, who have the convictions of an Old Testament prophet, who have the courage to speak out against the moral lassitude of our day and the excesses of our permissive society are often labeled "Sadducees." But the fact remains, that God did not come to call sinners into heaven but to take the Righteous home to be with him. The best thing I can do is maintain a Biblical Pharisee position and thank God that we are not like other men, including the publicans around us.

GAMALIEL/RJP

Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind." Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?"
Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
John 9:39-41 (NIV)

2004-04-16T22:16:00.000-05:00

Christian Environmentalism

I was startled this week to discover that there are Christians
who are getting involved in the environmental movement. I have no idea where they are getting the idea from that this is a godly pursuit but I am sure it is not from the Bible. I fear that these soft-hearted, mushy-headed do-gooder wannabes are well meaning in their deluded state but they certainly have no Christian foundation for their actions.

The most dangerous aspect to this affectation is the spirit of compromise that permeates the whole endeavor. In order for a Christian to pursue the environmental agenda he has to associate with a lot of unsavory unspiritual characters. The environmental movement is filled with heathens of all sorts. There are nature-loving tree huggers, feminists, evolutionists, anarchists and Democrats in the movement. Why on earth a Christian who values their walk with the Lord would want to associate with such folks is beyond me. Even worse than that, environmental activism is getting to be a popular theme among so-called "Emerging" or "Postmodern" Christian writers as Brian McLaren and Tony Campolo. That should be reason enough to stay away from the environmental movement.

Aside from associating with non-Christians and heretics, there are plenty of other reasons why we shouldn't be involved with environmentalists. Mainly, it's not our responsibility. God put Adam in the garden to "keep and dress it" in the book of Genesis. Since the fall, our mandate has not changed. The world exists for our pleasure and its purpose is to nourish and care for us. The earth is for our pleasure; we are not for the earth's pleasure. We are not supposed to take care of nature because it is supposed to take care of us. The earth serves man, not the other way around.

Even more dangerous than that, environmentalism is a dilution of our purpose on earth. God sent his Son to die for the world - not the earth. Romans 8 tells us that the whole creation is groaning in travail because of its awful condition, yet we don't see Jesus dying to redeem it. Instead, Peter tells us that one day the elements are going to melt with a fervent heat. Why would we waste time trying to save the earth when it's going to all burn up anyway? No, the environment is not an issue we should waste our time on because it distracts from what we should be doing. All our time should be devoted to studying the Bible, reading and teaching doctrine. Anything else is just a minor detail and a fool's errand.

Be warned, however, that environmentalists will try to use every slick trick they can think of to persuade you to join their cause. There is no emotional ploy they won't pull, no manipulative method they won't try. This is proof that the environmentalist movement is not of God because you would never see these tactics used in sound Pharisee churches.

• Guilt - Environmentalists will try to make you think that you are personally guilty for everything that is wrong with the world today. They realize that you didn't cause all the evil but they will point to the life of excess that you lead as proof that you are exploiting the world for sinful personal gain.

• Fear - Environmentalists will try to convince you that something awful is going to happen to you if you don't join their cause. They say you will die of cancer or heart disease or lung disease or brain damage from all the troubling things that people are doing to the environment and that your only salvation lies in joining their movement. In fact, they are so exclusive as to believe that the ONLY way to salvation is by joining their cause.

• Doomsday - One of their favorite tactics is to play the TEOTWAWKI card. For those of you not aware of the latest acronyms it is "The End Of The World As We Know It." Environmentalists will try to convince you that the end of the world is right around the corner and the destruction of our planet is only a matter of a few years away. They won't set any date for the destruction, claiming that no one can know for sure, but they are certain that it is soon and we all better get ready.

• Globalism - This one isn't as big as it used to be but there are still some environmentalists out there who believe in some vast conspiracy that is seeking to rule the world. For some reason they make a connection between their belief system and the notion that there is going to be a one-world government and a one-world economy that will make slaves of us all. This was a popular theme of science fiction books and movies like Soylent Green, Logan's Run, and George Orwell's 1984 which isn't nearly as popular as it was before the mid-1980's. Still, there are plenty of people who take a post-apocalyptic scenario and exploit it for personal gain like the makers of The Matrix movies.

Don't let them deceive you. Stay faithful to your Pharisee church where we would never try to make people feel guilty, predict dire consequences for failing to adopt our worldview, warn of an immanent impending world-wide disaster and try to convince people of a coming one-world government.

Gamaliel/RJP

The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;
for he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the waters.
Psalm 24:1-2 (NIV)

2004-04-10T07:23:00.000-05:00

Commandment Controversy

I continue to get more and more upset with the number of folks who are jumping on the Ten Commandments bandwagon. Every good Pharisee knows that we should not be joining this attempt to compromise the principles of the Word of God under a misguided attempt to "bring back" the Ten Commandments. There are so many reasons why spiritual Christians should avoid joining the cause to re-post the Ten Commandments that it would take a book to contain them all. However, I will attempt to give you the highlights in this week’s column.

The Ten Commandments Movement is a Smoke Screen for Rampant Ecumenicalism

This cause like many seemingly well-intentioned efforts to improve the moral climate of our country is really just an attempt to unify all of the various denominations under a single banner. Just look at who is involved – Baptists, Catholics, Assemblies of God, Churches of Christ, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists – everyone except the Unitarians. It makes no difference what doctrinal beliefs you hold. As long as you support the Ten Commandments, that is all that matters to this movement. This is like so many other ecumenical movements such as Promise Keepers, The Moral Majority, The Pro-Life Movement, and many others. All of them seek to unite diverse doctrines under one unifying banner or another, which is an abomination to God.

The Bible plainly states that we should "mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them," in Romans 16:17. So we should avoid those who seek to unite all faiths under a single, unified cause because they are really causing division by sowing false doctrine. No matter how many they attract or how great their following, when we separate ourselves from them we are being obedient to our biblical mandate to avoid them. When we divide ourselves from them we are not causing the divisions but are only responding to the division that they have created by holding to false doctrine. Clearly, it is they who are the ones holding to the false doctrines, not us.

The Ten Commandments Movement Misses the Source of Apostasy

Many people think that what is hurting this country is principalities, powers, and spiritual wickedness in high places. They think they can remedy these “evils” by “getting back to the Bible” through posting of the Ten Commandments.

They could not be more wrong.

The real source of evil in our society today is the spirit of compromise and apostasy that exists in America’s churches. We have houses of “worship” that not only fail to preach against the evils of rock & roll, they actually incorporate it into their services along with all the attendant worldly instruments like guitars and drums. It is compromise with the world that is ruining society, not the lack of the Ten Commandments and I have proof. Nowhere in our church do we have them posted and we are the most spiritual bunch of True Christians I know. So if we can be spiritual without the Ten Commandments, why would we think that posting them in government offices (of all places) would make corrupt officials spiritual?

The Ten Commandments Movement is Fighting the Wrong BattleThe weapons of our warfare as saints in God’s Kingdom are spiritual, not carnal. The posting of God’s Law is a carnal act since it is not a spiritual weapon. The arena of the battle is the wrong one as well. The New Testament nowhere commands us to be politically active, particularly pastors. Paul certainly spent no time in his ministry trying to "bring the Roman empire back to God." Instead, like all the apostles, he devoted all his time "continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word." (Acts 6:4)

The sorry state of affairs in our country today does not require more Culture Warriors campaigning for the Ten Commandments (after all we have a Constitution to rule the government). What we should promote is a call to more prayer meetings, for genuine repentance from sins, for abandoning of heresies, for righteous living, for separation from the world and, most of all, for bold preaching like mine. If people would simply heed the Bible and follow the principles of 2 Chronicles 7:14 by leaving their wicked ways, humble themselves, pray and seek God's face, then God would hear from heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land. Until America does that, then posting of the Ten Commandments won't do anyone any good.

The Ten Commandments Movement is Applying the Wrong Remedy

The Law of Moses is a Jewish Law and was given to a Jewish leader to guide God's Chosen People. The Ten Commandments have no application in our modern society because we are a Gentile nation founded on New Testament principles. This is not to say that we are a Christian nation because we are not. We never have been and we never will. Yes, there were Biblical principles involved in our founding but there were also principles of Enlightenment philosophy and Natural Science and even elements of paganism from Plato's Republic.

Besides, we have no business trying to build a country for God. Nowhere does the Bible direct us to build a "Christian nation." There is no commission for nation building in the New Testament, only a commission to build churches. So if we are trying to build a country instead of a church, we are really in rebellion against God's plan.

I realize this may sound harsh to some people but that is only because they can't stand good sound preaching. If they could, then they would not be cozying up to heretics to get the Ten Commandments posted. They would recognize that apostasy comes from a lack of separated righteous living and that fighting for the Ten Commandments is really a secular enterprise instead of a Spiritual one. And finally, if they could stand biblical preaching, then they wouldn't waste so much time trying to build up this country when what they need to do is spend more time in church, putting their money in the offering plate where it belongs instead of political action committees and causes.

Gamaliel/rjp

Sing praises to the LORD , enthroned in Zion;
proclaim among the nations what he has done.

Psalm 9:11 (NIV)

2004-04-03T19:24:00.000-05:00

Cross-Over Christians

Faithful readers, I apologize for not posting last week but I was out of town on business and unable to get to the mailing list. This week I have decided to give Gamaliel another week off and let him enjoy his much needed rest. He works very hard keeping the world safe for Pharisees and it is only fair to let him get a little relaxation from time to time. This week I was hoping to continue the theme of the decline of contemporary Christian music with a particular focus on Christian artists who leave Christian music altogether and "cross over" to the secular side. Unfortunately, Diotrephes, one of Gamaliel's deacons, decided to tackle a slightly different topic. I hope you don't mind.

-rick

Howdy, folks, I'm deacon Diotrephes and I'm filling in for our good Pastor Gamaliel this week. Rick has asked me to take a stab at dealing with "cross-over Christians." You know them. These are the folks who have left the faith, they've abandoned the flock, and they've gone over to the "other side" as it were. They are no longer sold out for Jesus and are flagrantly looking to make money any way they can. They are no longer serving God but they are serving themselves and their own interests. Let me give you an example.

Bob, one of my former buddies, used to be one of the finest Christian bricklayers I knew. He was a great all around guy. He started out small in the masonry business building an occasional church here and a parsonage there. He wasn't getting rich but he was serving God, doing what he was called to do in life. But then what do you think happened? He found out that his skills were in demand and that he could make more money and be more famous in the secular world than he could in the sacred. Oh, it didn't happen all at once, it just came on him gradually. Here's his story.

At first Bob was content to build churches and parsonages but then he began to slip away. What really started him down the slippery slope was a church that asked him to build an annex. Bob rationalized it away. He said, "Well, it belongs to the church so it must be OK." What he didn't realize was that there were no worship services in the annex. While the building belonged to the church, it was used for a mixed purpose. Some spiritual things were done there like carry-in dinners and wedding receptions but the church also used it for carnal things such as community meetings, so-called "outreach" ministries which were really nothing more than social gatherings and eventually the church let the community use the annex as a polling place. This just goes to prove the point that once we start down the path to carnality, there is no telling where we'll end up.

But how did this affect Bob, you ask? Surely Bob was serving God by working for the church even if the church went secular with the building. That's just what Bob tried to tell himself. He explained to himself that he couldn't control the actions of others and it was between them and God what use they put his buildings to. Well, this was just a sop that he threw his conscience as he continued down the ruinous path to perdition. He had no sooner gotten used to the idea that it was perfectly all right for him to build annexes than another church came up and asked him if he would build a recreation center. You and I know what his answer should have been but Bob was so blinded by greed and his compromise with the world that he accepted the job readily.

It was then that he faced his greatest danger. Recreation centers don't go up cheap. Bob made a lot of money off the rec center and was getting used to his high-end lifestyle. The next thing he toyed with was the idea that he needed to branch out, to expand his opportunities, to build more things (and make more money). So he started laying bricks on Christian schools. Some of you might still think that Bob was in full time Christian ministry because he was doing Christian schools after all but from there it was just a short hop to hospitals and then to secular schools. Once that began, the floodgates let loose, Bob lost all his standards and was just as likely to build one thing as another with no regard at all for maintaining Christian separation.

The last I heard, he was getting ready to build a bar.

Who would have thought that that is where Bob would end up - a servant of Satan? I believe it is our solemn duty as Christians to maintain our separated existence from the world. We are supposed to be in the world but we aren't supposed to be of it. If Bob had truly been a Christian bricklayer, he would have dedicated himself to a lifetime of Christian service building only things that honored and glorified the Lord. Instead he went after the highest bidder and built whatever building he was asked to build with no regard for decency, morality or the value of his Christian testimony. He was no longer taking a stand for Christ and with that the reputation of all Christians is harmed because of the compromise of the few like Bob. I don't know what this world is coming to. Bob tried to tell me that as long as he was doing a good job and honoring the Lord with his labor, it was all right for him to build whatever he wants. You and I both know that is so much hogwash.

The next thing you know we'll hear about Christian musicians leaving the faith and "crossing over" to perform secular music instead of singing only the sacred tunes we hold dear. Once that happens, we might as well mark it down that America has sunk into apostasy.

Diotrephes/rjp

There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you.

Deuteronomy 12:7 (NIV)

2004-03-19T16:49:00.000-05:00

Issues Facing Pharisees Today (cont.)

This week I am continuing my offer of the most important sermons I have ever preached. You may order these in DVD, VHS and CD ROM format. This series of messages with over 900 minutes of my finest preach will help every Bible-believe Pharisee today be well informed on issues of the most vital importance. The remaining titles in the series are:

NEW EVANGELICALISM AND ITS DANGER TO THE LORD'S CHURCHES

This is my most important sermon dealing with the topic of the New Evangelicalism. In this 2-hour message you will get all the proof you need for why everyone else is doing it wrong. Some complain that I preach this entire message blasting heretics and exposing their false gospel but never once preach the True Gospel myself. These mindless critics are ignorant of the fact that my message is to those who are already saved, who know the gospel - not the lost. Why would I waste time telling the Gospel to those who already believe it? It is not the intent of my preaching to evangelize the lost myself, but to inform God's People as to why everyone else is doing it wrong.

Many of my fellow Pharisee brethren have said this is the best and most practical presentation they have seen on this subject. New Evangelicalism stands on a shaky middle ground between fundamental Bible-believing Christians and the wider apostasy of mainline, liberal Protestant denominations. This presentation traces the history of New Evangelicalism by examining the faulty philosophies of the men who have promoted it: Billy Graham, John Harold Ockenga, Harold Lindsell, John R. W. Stott, Max Lucado, Charles Stanley, Warren Wiersbe, Chuck Swindoll, Chuck Colson, Luis Palau, Franklin Graham, C. Peter Wagner, Bill McCartney, Bill Bright, Stephen Olford, Jack Van Impe, Joseph Stowell, and other soft-headed liberals. I also expose the schools which have passed this philosophy on to a generation of unsuspecting, gullible preachers and missionaries: Wheaton College, Fuller Theological Seminary, Dallas Theological Seminary; Westminster College, Gordon-Conwell, Biola, and others.

I also examine the vital questions of is God pleased with preachers who:
• refuse to separate from evil?
• refuse to name the names of false teachers?
• refuse to preach the negative things of the Bible?
• have earned the praise and acclamation of the world and its institutions?
• are willing to unite with those who preach a "different gospel' than the one which can save a soul?
This presentation gives clear, Bible answers to the many questions raised by New Evangelicalism, so that Christians can arm themselves against this dangerous and unbiblical philosophy and help them ease the guilt they feel for not sharing the Gospel themselves. If everyone else is doing it wrong, then we need to make sure we don't join their error by doing it wrong as well. The less we share of the Gospel ourselves, the less likely we are to make the same mistakes.

PHARISEE FUNDAMENTALISTS WHO DEFENDED THE KING JAMES BIBLE

Some recent publications have made the claim that Pharisees of old did not defend the King James Bible and have argued that the defense of the KJV is of recent origin. This high-quality one-hour message, refutes this claim altogether. It provides clear historical proof that Pharisees have ALWAYS defended the King James Bible as a sacred text from the earliest days of the 20th Century.

WHY WE HOLD TO THE KING JAMES BIBLE

The defenders of the King James Bible in general are being charged with being divisive and ignorant. It is the point of this two-and-a-half hour sermon to show that it is really those heretics who undermine reliance on the King James Bible as the Inspired Word of God who are being divisive and ignorant, not us. This high-quality video presents five of the most important reasons why we are convinced that English-speaking people need to hold to the King James Bible in spite of the onslaught of the modern versions. The main points of the message are:

1. THE KJV IS BASED ON THE PRESERVED GREEK NEW TESTAMENT.
In our estimation, the first and foremost reason why we need to hold to the KJV is that it is based on the right Greek New Testament, whereas the modern versions are based upon a corrupted Greek New Testament that was fashioned in the 19th century out of unbelieving, humanistic principles. In this video presentation we help the viewer understand this matter by examining Four Periods of Church History:
• The Apostolic period, which was the era of the giving of the Bible
• The 2nd and 3rd centuries, which was the era of the corruption of the Bible
• The Dark Ages, which was the era of the persecution against the Bible
• The Reformation, which was the era of the printing of the Bible. We show that throughout this long period up to the late 1800s, God's people had confidence in the preserved scriptures.
2. THE MODERN VERSIONS ARE BASED ON THE CORRUPT THEORIES OF MODERN TEXTUAL CRITICISM.
The modern Greek New Testament was founded upon the principle that the Scriptures were not divinely preserved by God but were corrupted. According to modern textual criticism, a corruption of the New Testament somehow became the Bible of God's people around the 3rd century and it was that corruption that was spread throughout the world and used by God's people for 15 and more centuries until the end of the 1800s, when (allegedly) the pure New Testament was finally recovered through the theories of textual criticism. We give three reasons for rejecting modern textual criticism even though this view falls right in line with our "Four Periods of Church History" mentioned above.
3. THE KJV IS DOCTRINALLY SUPERIOR TO THE MODERN VERSIONS.
This video presentation explodes the popular myth that no doctrine is affected by the various versions by careful proof-texting and selecting only those scriptures that support my point while ignoring those which don't.
4. THE MODERN VERSIONS ARE BUILT ON A FOUNDATION OF DECEPTION.
We see that the translators were instructed not to change the text, yet they secretly replaced the Greek Received Text with the Westcott-Hort Greek text created by the principles of modern textual criticism. How we discovered this secret is never explained.
5. THE KJV HAS AN UNMATCHED HERITAGE.
We look at the Tyndale Bible that became the foundation of the King James Bible and try not to contradict ourselves in explaining why the KJB is superior to Tyndale's even though it is built on his foundation.

THE ERRORS OF MODERN TEXTUAL CRITICISM

It is impossible to find the Word of God apart from faith; yet, modern textual criticism is founded not upon faith in God's promises but upon the cleverness of human scholarship. This, in itself, is a great error. We prove this error through judicious use of the cleverness of human scholarship on our own part.

SOUND CHRISTIAN MUSIC vs. CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC

This presentation examines the overt worldliness in lifestyle, appearance, and methods of the Contemporary Christian Music industry. Aside from exposing the worldly lifestyles of modern contemporary Christian I ask some vital questions:
• Should Christians rock?
• Is Contemporary Christian Music a good way to entice the world into the church?
• Where should we draw the line in Christian music?
• How does worldly music enter Bible-believing churches?
• What are the dangers of this new music?
• Isn't it legalistic to have specific standards for music?

For Bible answers to these and many other important questions on the issue of music, we highly recommend this video. This will be especially enlightening for those who can't figure out where the Bible addresses this issue even though it was written nearly 20 centuries ago.

Gamaliel/rjp

Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.

James 4:1-2 (NIV)

2004-03-12T16:49:00.000-05:00

Issues Facing Pharisees Today

In an effort to expand our e-ministry into the modern age, I have decided to embrace technology and make my most important sermons available on DVD, VHS and CD ROM. You can order the entire collection comprising over 900 minutes of the finest Pharisee fire-and-brimstone philosophy available. With the spirit of compromise and worldliness holding our churches in thrall, it is vitally important that you order this pack of 5 DVDs, 12 VHS tapes or 7 CD ROM discs containing audio and PowerPoint outlines of my 9 most important sermons. Here is a brief selection of some of the most important titles:

BIBLICAL SEPARATION AND ITS NEGLECT AMONG PHARISEES

The outline of this 120 minute sermon is:
• Separation: What sets Spiritual Christians apart from Carnal Christians and the rest of the world
• The Basis of Separation: The power of having and "us vs. them" mentality
• The Method of Separation or "Why Ostracism is Still a Good Idea"
• The Reason for Separation: Establishing why we are better Christians than everyone else
• The Attitude of Separation: Why nothing spiritual is ever accomplished without the power to judge and condemn others.
There are a great many examples throughout the sermon on why we need to be separate in such things as staying away from Christian bookstores, contemporary Christian radio stations, non-Pharisee mission activities and modern Christian scholarship.

THE CALVINISM DEBATE: MAKING MINCEMEAT OF THE OTHER SIDE

This 45-minute feature focuses on why we need to have this debate. It is vitally important for us to take a stand on our historic position with regard to our understanding of the mind of God. We must be able to articulate a position that dots all of the appropriate i's and crosses all the relevant t's in such a way that we are acceptable to our peers. It is vitally important that we not frame our arguments in a way that deviates one inch from our Pharisee tradition. I also explain at great length the benefits of spending time talking about evangelism, witnessing and sharing the faith without actually going out and doing any of those things.

DANGERS IN CHRISTIAN BOOKSTORES

Sadly and strangely, one of the great spiritual dangers facing Bible-believing churches today is the unscriptural material that lines the shelves of the typical Christian bookstore. This video message carefully exposes several of these dangerous philosophies that permeate the average Christian bookstore. An expose of dangerous authors to avoid includes such names as Robert Schuller, Kay Arthur, Charles Stanley, David Jeremiah, Billy Graham, Chuck Colson, John Maxwell, Philip Yancey, Jim Cymbala, Max Lucado, Elisabeth Elliot, Jerry Bridges, Jack Hayford, Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, James Dobson, and C.S. Lewis. Since none of these wild-eyed radicals are True Pharisees, we need to avoid reading anything they have written. And just to prove I am a good Pharisee myself, all of my research is taken from the dust jackets of the books, the opinions of Pharisees who have read the books and my own personal prejudices and biases based on e-mails I have received from others.

DANGERS OF CONTEMPORARY WORSHIP MUSIC (Part 1 of a 2-part series on music)

I have put in more research on this series of messages than anything I have ever done, including the subject of eschatology. I have read about 30 books on the subject of contemporary praise, and I analyzed about 500 of the popular contemporary praise albums even though listening to all this garbage caused excruciating pain, severe hallucinations and an infection with a spirit that wanted to make me "joyful" in spite of my judgmental, condemning attitude at the moment. Through the years I have studied contemporary praise at large ecumenical conferences where I have attended with press credentials because I did not one anyone to think for a moment that I was a participant in such godless mayhem. I have attended services at congregations that are influential in the Contemporary Christian Worship movement, including Rick Warren's Saddleback Church in California, Bill Hybels' Willowcreek Community Church near Chicago, the Anaheim Vineyard Church, lately pastored by John Wimber, Carpenter's Home Church in Lakeland, Florida (where Michael W. Smith recorded his largest-selling worship album), and other congregations that are influential in this movement. Here are the main warnings I divulge in this sermon:
• Contemporary Christian Worship is built upon the false philosophy that music is neutral. Everyone knows that any music that is melodic, has a beat and uses non-spiritual instruments only excites the flesh and not the spirit.
• Contemporary Christian Worship is largely a rock & roll feeling-fest. It does not convey timeless doctrinal truth or inspire platonic, intellectual, non-emotional worship.
• Contemporary Christian Worship is not separated from the world. In fact it is so comfortable in the world that a number of musical groups and songs are being played on secular stations. This is clearly a sign of compromise with the world; not evangelism as they claim.
• Contemporary Christian Worship is one of the most insidious means of promoting the ecumenical movement. As we know, Pharisees cannot be associated in the least with any false denomination or we succumb to the spirit of compromise and violate the tenets of Biblical Separation by listening to this drivel.
• Contemporary Christian Worship goes hand in hand with a worldly philosophy of Christianity and a gradual lowering of all standards. It mixes worldliness and Christianity in such a way as to negate the message of purity and holiness necessary for maintaining our pious attitudes. It teaches that we are all equally loved by God and undermines the idea that of all God's children, he does have favorites - us Pharisees.
• Contemporary Christian Worship is confused about true biblical worship. It seeks to introduce elements of emotion and feeling when true worship is all about the intellect and the mind. Anything that appeals to emotion is strictly forbidden in true worship. We learn in the book of John chapter 4 that God is Truth and they that worship him must worship him in Truth. They seem to think that they must include the "Spirit" when worshipping God, which is far from what the Bible teaches.

THE DANGERS OF SOUTHERN GOSPEL MUSIC

This is part 2 of my extensively researched multi-media video presentation on contemporary worship music. It is a professionally produced documentary with a multiplicity of photographs and other visual and audio aids mixed into the presentation to illustrate the message. It is necessary to clear up misconceptions about Southern Gospel Music for a number of reasons.
• Southern Gospel is big business today and is very influential in Bible-believing churches, not only in the South, but also throughout the country, Canada and elsewhere.
• Many like Bill Gaither and other prominent names, are rapidly adopting the "music is neutral" philosophy of the Contemporary Christian Music world. In fact, any walls that once existed to separate Southern Gospel from the Christian rock world are rapidly being torn down.
• Commercial Southern gospel today is now nothing more than one of the branches of the larger CCM tree.
In this presentation I relate the history of Southern Gospel music from the quartets in the early 1900s and its spiritual foundations. I then go on to describe the evolution of the music toward commercialism and entertainment, particularly in the 1940s and 1950s and explain why Christianity should never be a financially viable enterprise. I describe how Southern Gospel quartets adopted the sexy dance music of the early 1900s, adopting the rhythms from ragtime, jazz, western swing, honky tonk, boogie woogie, and the blues. I never explain why this is wrong because it should be self-evident that anything done in bars and nightclubs should never be done in church. I distinguish between the two streams of Southern Gospel - a conservative (Spiritual) stream and a contemporary (Carnal) stream and explain how to tell the difference. I also explain how Southern Gospel (the carnal version) laid the foundation of rock music in the 1950s and show how many early rock & rollers got their start singing in churches. We explain why this is proof that the church is worldly instead of being evidence for how Christian art can have an impact on the world. We describe the vast influence that Bill Gaither, his minions and imitators have wielded on the Southern Gospel field since the 1980s. We document his rapid transition into the contemporary pop sounds and expose his ecumenical philosophy and show how this unscriptural philosophy is permeating Southern Gospel. I conclude with 10 practical suggestions on "Avoiding the Siren Sound of Southern Gospel Music."

(To Be Continued next week…)

Gamaliel/rjp

Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.

John 4:23-24 (NIV)

2004-02-27T22:23:00.000-05:00

Divorce and Remarriage

A recent visitor to our church remarked that as a person who had been divorced and was remarried, he felt uncomfortable because of the comments I made in my sermon, "God's Divine Plan for Families and Why the Divorced Are Under a Curse." I, of course, made no apology for the Truth of God's word about this topic and advised the individual that the Bible's teaching is very clear on the subject and I can do no less than stand for what the Scriptures teach. As I expected, this couple did not return - proof once again that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. I'm sure they will find a comfortable spot in one of the burgeoning number of "Emergent" or "Postmodern" churches where sin of every sort is not only tolerated but glossed over as if it were no sin at all.

One of the clearest teachings in the entire Bible is that divorce, in most cases, is a sin and that remarriage in all cases is wrong. I am quite proud of the fact that there are only a few individuals attending our church who are divorced and there are no couples who are remarried. How do we manage this incredible feat? It is actually quite easy. We make things so uncomfortable for such people that only the most dedicated Pharisees are willing to stay in our church. We constantly make references to the sanctity of marriage, intact families, the evils of divorce, the blessings of married life and the need to stay together no matter how abusive the spouse or how intolerable the situation. Most people who want to excuse their sin and wish to be coddled in their corruption soon get the message that we are a church who stands for the Truth and uncompromising in our stand against wickedness.

Some are unclear as to why we are so adamant on this subject. The reasons are numerous but I will name a few. The main reason is that the only time divorce is acceptable in God's eyes is in cases where a spouse has committed the sin of adultery. We also recognize that there are sometimes extenuating circumstances when an unregenerate spouse will leave a believing spouse and, as Paul teaches in his letter to the Corinthians, the believing spouse is not bound in such cases to remain married. In this we are truly liberal in allowing divorced believers to remain in the congregation despite the fact that they have participated in breaking the bonds of holy matrimony. So, while divorce is a great evil in today's society, we recognize that it
happens and work hard to accept people in a loving way even though their lives are horribly ruined and they are rendered eternally unqualified for any full time Christian ministry positions.

However, we would never allow them or any other divorced person to remarry in our church. If people who have been divorced marry, then according to the Bible they are living in adultery. And anyone who is living with an adulterer is committing adultery by marrying the divorced person - so both individuals in such an arrangement are living in sin. While divorce and remarriage are not unpardonable sins, the fact that such a couple is living in a perpetual state of adultery as long as they are married, prevents them from participating in many of the activities of the church. A man who divorces and remarries is forever disqualified from ever being a pastor. This is one of the reasons I never listen to Charles Stanley because he is soft on personal sin as evidenced by his corrupt life. Remarried people are denied the right to hold any leadership positions, church offices and are prevented from serving on key committees. They are not really treated as second class Christians however, because we magnanimously provide them many areas of service like grounds keeping, church janitor, folding bulletins and
of course contributing to the work of the church with their tithes and offerings. We even allow them to partake of the Lord's Table as long as they confess their immoral relationship before the church prior to each communion service so that they don't partake unworthily with unconfessed sin in their lives.

Some would say that there are no Pharisees who are divorced and remarried and this is patently not true. There are a number of folks who were divorced and remarried before they were saved. In these cases their sin is covered under the blood of Christ's forgiveness and grace so they are no longer living in adultery. Those who divorce and remarry after salvation are not afforded this forgiveness and grace, which is why they will continue to live in adultery as long as they remain together. Indeed the best thing for such Christians to do is to divorce their adulterous spouses and dedicate themselves to a celibate life, content with serving God on the fringes of Christian ministry.

Gamaliel/rjp
Nevertheless, each one should retain the place in life that the Lord
assigned to him and to which God has called him.

I Corinthians 7:17 (NIV)

2004-02-21T00:34:00.000-05:00

The Woman's Place

Today I would like to deal with a topic that I have heard is quite controversial in some circles. I know that most non-Pharisee churches have difficulty with this issue but I have become increasingly alarmed by the number of Pharisee churches that are beginning to compromise with the spirit of this world on the very important topic of the Woman's Place in the church. This topic is only controversial to those who ignore the authority of God and his Holy Word and anyone who rejects the Bible teaching on the Woman's Place blasphemes the Word of God by despising Sound Doctrine.

Let me state first of all that I love women and believe that God has a divine order and economy under which we are to abide. The Bible that tells us Christ is to rule over the man and the man is to have dominion over the woman because "the head of every man is Christ; and the head of every woman is the man" in I Corinthians 11:3 meaning that the woman's God-ordained place is to be in subjection to the man. This is not my decision or interpretation but this is straight from the Bible that it is the man's place to rule over the woman. I realize this is an awesome duty and weighty responsibility and women should be grateful for the fact that God has not placed this grievous burden on their delicate shoulders. I say this, not to be lord over God's heritage, but to humbly submit to the divine decrees of God and gravely accept this heavy weight of accountability before Him. After all, man bears some of the responsibility in the Fall but the primary blame is put on the woman for deceiving the man. It is true that had Eve listened to Adam in the first place, we would not be in the state we are in and none of this would be controversial at all.

But the Bible is very clear about the woman's role in the church. Just read the following:
I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence (1 Timothy 2:8-12).<BR>
It is clear from this passage that all the leadership roles in the church belong to the man and all the "followship" roles belong to the woman. It is not the woman's place to pray in church but the man's. It is not the woman's role to lift up hands in church but the man's. Women should never dress up for church, wear make-up or jewelry but instead be clothed with good works and humility. They should also be silent and in subjection because they are not permitted to usurp authority over the man. Once again, these are not my words, these are straight from the Bible and to go against them is to go against the plain teaching of the Word.

This is not to say that women cannot contribute to the work of the Lord. They are only forbidden speaking and leadership roles. There is plenty for women to do in the church. They are naturally inclined toward children and it is only right and fitting that they teach the children during Sunday School. The older women are commanded to teach the younger women how to be good wives and keepers at home - an endeavor that meets with my enthusiastic approval.

One of the biggest problems in the church today is that women don't know their place in the home, let alone their place in the church and this instruction by the older women is desperately needed. Women are also well suited to cooking the food for the carry-in dinners, setting the tables, and cleaning the dishes afterward while the men discuss the weighty matters of theology and doctrine. The best church janitors are women and some even do well as groundskeepers by planting flowers and such around the church house. There are many areas of service for women, even though they are denied speaking and some teaching roles in church.

You can find more ideas for areas of service for women in the church at: ; some of which I will include here.
The following is taken from the site.

Some of the works which women may do include: write Bible class material, visit the sick--shut-ins — weak members — newcomers, see that recreation through the home is provided for the church’s youth, prepare the communion, assist women at baptism (and wash baptismal towels & garments), grade Bible correspondence courses, teach women’s and children’s classes, office work (bulletins, etc.), clean the church building, help evangelize, baby-sit for other church workers and arrange bulletin boards. Only one’s imagination limits the work which women may do in the church, yet within the bounds set forth by God in his Word.

Another good source of information on the woman's place can be found at:
which tells us:
Verse fifteen of this chapter call women to their proper place and task.

And that is childbearing! "She shall be saved in childbearing." This needs all the emphasis we can give it in our day! Childbearing includes the actual conception and bearing of children and all the rearing of them in God's fear. God gives the women of the church ample opportunity to teach and to rule. They must teach and rule their little ones in the fear of His Name. Some would accuse us Pharisees of wanting to keep women "barefoot and pregnant" in the service of the Lord. It should be abundantly clear that this is a blatant calumny of the worst sort. There is absolutely no mention in the above paragraph - as you can read for yourself - about keeping women barefoot.

Gamaliel/rjp

In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church - for we are members of his body.
Ephesians 5:28-31 (NIV)<BR>

2004-02-14T10:16:00.000-05:00

Dissing the Passion

I feel that it is time for me to speak out against Mel Gibson's latest movie, The Passion of the Christ. I realize that his feature doesn't come out in movie theaters until February 25 and some might wonder how I can criticize a movie I have never seen but there is enough on the web to prove to me that this is the latest in a long line of Hellywood blasphemies against the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Besides, I have never allowed lack of thorough knowledge about any topic to be an impediment to sharing my opinion on it.

The first reason to oppose The Passion is because it is a movie. It is not possible for anything shown on the silver screen to bring honor and glory to the Lord even though some might think so. Movie houses are where sexually charged young people go to engage in heavy petting and other forms of carnal misconduct. It is an unholy abomination to think that Christ could be glorified in such a place. We need to keep Him in the church (Ephesians 3:21) where He belongs and not allow him to become tainted by contact with the world.

The second reason to oppose this movie is because it is being praised by the popular press such as Christianity Today and The Chicago Tribune and even Newsweek. Web sites like Jews for Jesus are discussing it and there is just no end to the good things people are saying about the movie. Except for a few radical fringe groups, no one seems opposed to the movie except for good sound Pharisees like myself. Such popularity with the world is proof that the movie cannot be pleasing to God. The World is not attracted to the things of God but is repelled by them so if the World likes The Passion, then it cannot be of God.

Another reason for standing against this movie is found in looking at who is standing for it. Godless carnal Christians involved in the "church growth" movement are among those most heavily promoting it. Rick Warren, one of the biggest culprits in the mega-church movement is recommending sources of materials for use in discussing the movie at http://www.passionmaterials.com/default.asp and http://resources.purposedriven.com/pd/item_M012804002.htm for example. He even has an article on his web site describing how it is being used at his super-sized church. He also lists what he calls good reasons to see the Passion on his web site . But then this is to be expected from someone who desecrated God's church by showing the movie there and having Mel Gibson share his thoughts with the crowd of pastors in attendance. But he is not the only one promoting it. Mission America is also suggesting that folks use it as a springboard for evangelism. This is the kind of thing we can expect from the New Evangelical movement.

Other reasons for avoiding the movie include the fact that everyone involved is Catholic and they know absolutely nothing about Jesus Christ. Mel Gibson is a Catholic of one of the most extreme sorts so clearly he is going to make scriptural errors and distort the word of God. Jim Caviezel, the actor committing the idolatrous blasphemy of portraying Jesus as a long-haired Renaissance-style sissy in the film, is also a staunch Roman Catholic. It is the highest sacrilege for us mere human beings to think that we could resemble Jesus Christ in any way, let alone feel qualified to play him in a movie. A true Christian has no business trying to create a representation of Jesus that attempts to be easily understood by the World.

But the most important reason for not going to the movie is because nothing good can come of it. It is a violent portrayal of the death of Jesus Christ that should never be shown to the public. We should never see Jesus Christ humiliated in such a gross distortion of the Bible account. Our task is to exalt Jesus Christ, not degrade him by showing him suffering and dying on the cross. We should lift him up and set him on God's right hand rather than focusing on his shameful death. Christ on the cross is certainly not the point of the Bible and dwelling on His Passion will only discourage people from relying on their God-ordained pastors for all of their information and guidance in understanding the truth about their Lord. It is not our business to focus on the death of Jesus Christ and what that means for us, but we should be focusing on leading lives that are as sinless and holy as possible. If it weren't for the holy life that I live, Jesus' death would have been for nothing. And after all, isn’t that what Jesus came to do - to suffer on behalf of people like me who would live a nearly perfect life in honor of Him?

GAMALIEL/rjp

Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly beloved children and live a life of love, just as Christ love us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

EPHESIANS 5:1-2 (NIV)

2004-02-06T21:22:00.000-05:00

Pro-Death Christianity

I had forwarded a link to a wimpy, soft-headed, pansy Christian on the need for maintaining the death penalty and he accused me of being a hypocrite on the right to life issue. After a heated exchange with this "brother" I got the impression that he seemed to think it inconsistent for a Christian to be opposed to abortion under the appellation of being "pro life" and at the same time favor the death penalty. He accused me of claiming to be pro life when in practice I am pro death. What utter and complete nonsense!

He first tried to convince me that the forerunners of our modern Pharisee churches were against the death penalty but what he failed to realize are some key facts:

• If these churches were in existence today, we would not allow them into our denomination because they would be failing to uphold the laws of our great country which is known world-wide as a Godly Country.

• The reason these churches opposed the death penalty was because the established church of the day would often persecute them to death, so this was nothing more than a position of self-interest, rather than enlightened godly principle.

• Our connection with these historic churches is much more tenuous than one is led to believe and he is merely looking at the writings of known "radical" offshoots of the True Pharisee tradition not the wider body of Pharisee thought at the time.

• Finally, if these forerunners of our modern-day Pharisees were to exist in our country in our day and age, they would likely favor the death penalty once they knew how justly it was enforced.

This namby-pamby bleeding-heart christian misses the fact that in this country the death penalty is legal. The death penalty cannot be immoral if it is legal. The laws of this country give the courts the right to execute judgment on convicted criminals. Arguments about innocent victims being put to death in miscarriages of justice or the disproportionate number of poor and minority victims are merely red herrings to mask the issue. Even if the victims were innocent of the particular crime they were being tried for, God would not allow an innocent person to die. If they are put to death, then it is done justly and for a crime we simply don’t know about. Anyone who has read the pro-death penalty book The Chamber by John Grisham will see the sense of this argument. And the reason more poor and minority victims are put to death is due to the simple fact that they commit most of the crimes. The O.J. Simpson trial is proof that a poor innocent person of color can get a fair trial in this country.

Abortion on the other hand is always immoral because it involves the taking of an innocent life. The fact that it is legal does nothing to make it right. Our country is in the business of passing laws, not morality. It is a well established fact that the government can’t legislate morality. Just because we are legally allowed to do something does not mean we ought to do it. Smoking, drinking, dancing and going to movies are all legal but they are certainly not things any self-respecting Christian would ever do.

Another argument he made is that we are not really pro life because we do not have any women who attend our church with their babies who were not aborted. While this may be true, he misses the whole point of it. First of all, no good Pharisee girl would ever bring an unwanted child into this world. In order to get pregnant, girls must fornicate, and Pharisees are never guilty of this sin. The average Pharisee may be guilty of a little lust here and there but true Pharisees would never fall into the trap of sexual sin. This transgression, like divorce and remarriage, is reserved for those who are only professing Christians rather than true possessors of the Spirit of Christ. So, by definition, any girl who gets pregnant out of wedlock probably isn’t a Christian and would immediately be dropped from the church roles and excommunicated from the assembly. So it is not that we are not pro life but it is the fact that we don’t have women in our Pharisee churches who would ever be in a place where they would consider getting an abortion because all of their children would be wanted. It’s simply not a sin we are susceptible to.

Aside from that, we would not want such women around our impressionable young girls. Any woman who would consider abortion as a viable alternative is not someone we want darkening the door of our church. But just because we do not want fallen women and their illegitimate offspring in our churches does not mean that we are not pro life. We would never condone their sexual permissiveness and we need to demonstrate our stance against sin so we separate ourselves as much as possible from the world. Being pro life doesn’t mean we are not anti sin.

Finally, what this dogmatic dilettante doesn’t realize is that support of the death penalty stems from our pro-life stance. It is precisely because we hold life in such high esteem that we demand the death penalty for murder. If we allow someone who has murdered to go on living, we show that we place a low value on the life of the victim. Killing the killer is how we show respect for the life of the one who was killed. The Bible is very clear that we need to practice "a life for a life" when it comes to capital crimes. If we don’t take the life of those who have no respect for it, then we show that we don’t respect life by allowing life to go on for these heinous criminals.

Gamaliel/RJP

Say to the Israelites: If anyone curses his God, he will be held responsible; anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone him. Whether an alien or native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death.

If anyone takes the life of a human being, he must be put to death. Anyone who takes the life of someone’s animal must make restitution – life for life. If anyone injures his neighbor, whatever he has done must be done to him: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As he has injured the other, so he is to be injured.

Exodus 24:15-19 (NIV)

Death penalty advocates often cite Leviticus 24:17 in defense of their position. They don’t cite the verse before it and support legislation making blasphemy a capital offence, nor do they cite the verses after it in support of administering personal injury in payment of personal injury claims. I wonder why that is?

rjp

2004-01-30T18:31:00.000-05:00

Christian Radio

The general decline of spirituality in this country is most evident in the contemporary Christian music industry. It would be too difficult for me to cover the entire subject of godless Christian music in one column so this week I will be discussing Christian radio. I will have to reveal the dangers of modern worship music in another Newsletter.

Let me state first of all that the desire on the part of any Christian to be contemporary is misguided from the start. We are not called to be contemporary; we are called to be different from the current culture. And that difference is age. We are called to be "old fashioned" as some would like to call it. The Bible tells us to seek the old paths and not to remove the ancient landmarks. The best rule of thumb for determining if a song is spiritual is the question, "How old is it?" If the music you are listening to is 25 years out of date, then you are likely to have a good Christian song that has stood the test of time. You mark it down that if you enjoy music that was made after 1975 then you are a carnal Christian and need to repent in dust and ashes.

Unfortunately, even this rule of thumb is proving to be a weak guideline in today's culture. Here is an examples of how bad the situation is. Wayne Watson got his start in the 1970's and was widely regarded as a wild-haired, radical, hippie musician. Today, he is esteemed as a fairly tame, middle-of-the-road musician who only appeals to "conservative Christian" music tastes. Has Watson changed his music style? If anything, he has gotten worse and uses even more rock and roll styling. Yet he is as popular today as he ever was. This demonstrates how insidious the move toward contemporary Christian music is.

Even following the "25 Year" rule leads to some dangerous situations. Standards today have dropped to such a low level that even the most radical musicians of the past are regarded as respectable today. I remember when Dallas Holm and Andrae Crouch were considered dangerously modern and no spiritual Christian would listen to them. Now their songs are included in the newer hymnals (which no self-respecting Pharisee church would ever purchase, by the way). But the point needs to be made that if it was godless rock and roll then, it is still godless rock and roll today and should not be allowed in our churches. The next thing you know, we will be seeing songs in our hymnals by Twila Paris, David Meece, Rich Mullins and Michael W. Smith.

Sadly, I have left my main topic, which is "Christian" (in name only) radio. As if the airwaves are not bad enough, many stations have web sites where you may go and stream their audio broadcasts for listening right at your computer. If you can’t find a godless radio station in your area, now you can pull one up on the Internet and satisfy your flesh. Even worse, some broadcasters have even gone to strictly Internet stations and don’t even broadcast over the air. That is how bad things have gotten in this country. Taking advantage of that, however, for the purposes of this column I would like to include links to stations where you can see for yourself how awful
the situation really is.

Let’s begin with this little gem: http://www.altaredlives.com/ or even this
one: http://www.christian-hiphop.net/ as the most egregious examples of abuse of the medium. There is no way that God can be glorified by rap or hip-hop music. The fact that it is one of the most popular styles among young people is proof that it is not honoring to the lord and we should not be listening to it.

So what is our alternative? Well, stations like this: http://tvulive.com/radiou/ claim to be an "alternative" Christian radio station but if the alternative to rap and hip-hop is noise then I will patiently keep looking. If you want to ruin your Christian life and
testimony you can go to http://www.christianrock.net/ for a whole network of these kinds of stations. There is nothing of artistic merit or praise to God
in groups like the Newsboys, RelientK or Audio Adrenaline who promote screaming as music.

In fact there are sites dedicated to promoting the widest array of heathen melodies possible. You can visit such places as http://www.acaza.com/mediaplayer/ or http://www.eprayzeradio.com/ , which are supposed to give us more variety. But variety of an evil sort is not really variety, is it? These omnibus sites only point to the vast number of people and groups who are engaged in destroying godly music as we know it. They clearly do not love the Lord nor do they want to promote him.

So let’s tone it back and see what the "adults" are listening to. I ran on this site that was promoted as something appealing to people of my age: http://www.klove.com/ I have never been so insulted in my life. It is nothing more than worldly music packaged with Christian lyrics. Even worse are places like http://www.managinglife.net/ that package the world as if it were godly. John Wesley never did that, nor did any of the other great hymn writers. Their music was godly from the beginning. The very idea of taking worldly music and putting godly lyrics to it is proof of compromise with the
world.

So what should we do? Should we listen to all preaching all the time at
http://www.myfaithradio.com/id20.html ? Well, if you want to be turned away from the faith, go ahead. There is not one Pharisee preacher in the whole bunch. While you might accidentally stumble on a truth by listening to these men, you are far more likely to hear error. I would recommend you avoid them altogether. Or you could listen to so-called praise and worship music at http://www.thenightwatch.com/ but even that is so far removed from spiritual music I would never recommend it.

No, dear Christian, the only places I would send someone who wanted to hear
true Gospel music that is honoring to God is:
http://www.gospelharmonymix.com/ or http://gospeltwang.com/ Both of these sites play the only kind of music that is truly honoring to God – Southern
Gospel and Bluegrass Gospel. It alone is written strictly for the edification of the saints, devoid of any corrupting influence such as a rock beat and is absolutely praiseworthy to the Lord. It is only Southern Gospel that has God’s approval due to the doctrinal depths in the lyrics and the upbeat, yet restrained musical accompaniment. And best of all, no worldly instruments are used in Southern Gospel, either. Only those instruments which praise God.

Gamaliel/RJP

Praise the Lord.
Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his might heavens.
Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.
Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and
lyre, praise him with the tambourine and dancing, praise him with the
strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with
resounding cymbals.
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.

Psalm 150 (NIV)