In our culture the unsaved community thinks knowledge is power so they set out to learn as much as they can but little to nothing about the matters of God. Gnosticism is the elevation of knowledge above all else even wisdom. Some people think knowledge is wisdom but it is clearly not, we can have much knowledge but not know how to use it according to the principles of God.
Too much human-knowledge will create arrogance and resistance to correction in God's Word.
When God told us to hide His Word away in our hearts he was not telling us to memorize the English version of the Bible. He was telling us to know His heart so intimately that we will never forget His principles. When we do this we may forget the passage in the English language where the principle is found, but we will never forget the principle. The principles of God hidden in our hearts will come up exactly when it is needed in life.
When we think with the mind of Christ every situation that arises will be interpreted in terms of God's heart, not our own ideas or the thinking of the culture.
We live in a largely manipulated Christian culture based on superficial feelings more than the truth of God's Word.
Mark 7:13 "13 Thus you nullify the word of God by the tradition you have handed down. And you do so in many such matters.”
Mark 7:9
"And he said unto them, Full well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your own tradition."
Isaiah 8:20
"To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."
1 Corinthians 2:15-16 "…15 The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment. 16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ."
Those who are led by the Holy Spirit have a job to do and all other believers should be working in tandem according to their gifts to bring about the will of God. No one is greater than another, nor is anyone special. Everyone who is led by the Holy Spirit must give all the credit to Him for their calling and His work in them.
1 Corinthians 12:8
"To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by the same Spirit,"
1 Corinthians 12:12-27
One Body with Many Members
"12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many.
15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?
18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.
19 If all were a single member, where would the body be?
20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,
23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty,
24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it,
25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.
26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it."
The one-man-paid-pastor system elevates one man above others. This fosters a sort of adulation toward this educated one who appears above others. The people "worship" this person through feeling intimidated to correct or instruct them, making them the mediator between God and man.
1 Timothy 2:5
"5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;"
My challenge to everyone is to take a look at everything that is done in the church gatherings and pray as well as read the Bible to see if what is being done agrees with the Bible. You will be amazed at how much the modern church does that is not Biblical and even antithetical to Christ.
When we pray and receive wisdom about God we will find ourselves rejected, mocked and demeaned by most Christians around us. The human traditions that drive the church gatherings today are so entrenched and loved most will not see it, they will defend what God never intended.
Mark 7:7-9 "…7 They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’ 8 You have disregarded the commandment of God to keep the tradition of men.” 9 He went on to say, “You neatly set aside the command of God to maintain your own tradition.…"
Colossians 2:8
"See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ."
Matthew 15:9
"In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
The joy of the Lord never leaves me but many times I grieve at all the lies Christians have accepted and defended while unwilling to listen to the Biblical truth.
2 Timothy 4:2-4 "…2Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and encourage with every form of patient instruction. 3For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires. 4So they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths."
If you will pray and ask the Holy Spirit it will astound you His answer to this problem of the apostate church in our age.
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