The church in America is a monstrous mess, if someone does not believe me perhaps they should go to prayer for God to open their eyes to what is all around them. It is common practice now for believers to read part of a passage and leave off the clarifying part that tells us the principle and command from God.
The church in America defends and supports divorce and remarriage even if they pretend they do not. When someone is divorcing the friends of the party divorcing, come alongside to protect and defend them, rather than encouraging them to resolve the marriage as Christ commanded. They look for loopholes in the scripture to justify their sin.
1 Corinthians 7:10-11 "…10 To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11 But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife."
When someone has been divorced not of their own choice their friends pile around to encourage them to remarry when God clearly forbids it.
The modern church leaves off the portion of the Scriptures that say "if you divorce you are to remain single or be reconciled."
In the matter of forgiveness, most Christians believe a false doctrine that says we should forgive unrepentant people who are not sorry for their actions and even continue to offend. They pay closer attention to secular psychology than they do to what the Word of God actually says.
God says in Luke 17:3-5 "…3 Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4 Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to say, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” 5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”…"
In our culture we do not rebuke sinning brothers and sisters, we forgive and forget when they have not made any changes in behavior defying the command to forgive when they come and "say, I repent."
We leave off the part in which God says "when they come and say "I repent."
In the case of the one man paid pastor tradition the people do not trust in the Holy Spirit to bring forth from their own gathering gifted men who are led by the Holy Spirit to lead, they rush to the seminaries to find a man educated and ordained of man, even those who have never been born again.
Acts 6:3-4 "3Therefore, brothers, select from among you seven men confirmed to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will appoint this responsibility to them 4and will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”…"
Men to lead ought never to be selected on the basis of a human degree from a human college. Men ought to be selected by leading of the Holy Spirit through prayer. And, there ought never to be only one man and they ought not to be paid a salary.
Those who receive a gift for their preaching and teaching are those who are coming through as preachers who travel, not someone who is a resident on a regular basis. Here again a passage has been taken out of context and morphed into something God never meant it to be, here's what God said:
Matthew 18:20 "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
Colossians 3:16 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God."
Born again believers are taught and trained by holy men of God who are filled with the Spirit and have been chosen to lead, not one man but several within a body.
Men of God who lead are not demanding things from the people or mandating anything, they are teaching truth from the Word and accountable to all the other believers in the group. They lead by the way that they serve.
Mark 10:42-45
"And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
A leader is to lead by example and preaching not by compulsion. After all, every believer has the Holy Spirit to lead them, they are to evaluate whatever a leader says to make sure they are not getting off truth or making rules God never made.
1 Peter 5:3"Not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.
The one-man pastor system has corrupted the church. Not everyone who is a one-man pastor has abused his position but many if not most have done so regularly. When a one-man seminary educated pastor is so full of themselves that no one can rebuke or correct him, he is not worthy to be a pastor, he is power-hungry loving his position more than he loves God.
Matthew 23:4-5 "…4 They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. 5 All their deeds are done for men to see. They broaden their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. 6 They love the places of honor at banquets, the chief seats in the synagogues,…"
Why would we think preachers in a pulpit would be any different from the religious leaders of Christ's time? They are not, the more power they receive as an individual the more likely they are to become conceited and unapproachable.
Another false assumption in our culture is that the church gathering has to be in a specially designated building other than homes. It can be a building that the group has purchased but it is not necessary for the church to gather according to scripture.
1 Corinthians 16:19 "The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord."
Philemon 1:2 "And Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house:"
When the church got it in their heads that we need special buildings and that men must be trained in seminary the goings-on in the church began to decline.
Those who are "pew people" became lazy in studying their Bibles because the preacher did all the preaching and told them what to believe. It led to error because the pew people would no longer question what was being said to make sure it was accurate. The men of the gatherings became lazy in studying their Bibles at home and thus also lazy in leading their families through reading and study of scripture.
Acts 17:10-12 "10 As soon as night had fallen, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went into the Jewish synagogue. 11 Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true. 12 As a result, many of them believed, along with quite a few prominent Greek women and men.…"
When the pew-sitters became and remained lazy they lost their discernment to evaluate what was being preached. They became intimidated to remain silent from fear that they would be accused of usurping what they perceived as an authority over them. Sadly they didn't and still do not know that the preacher does not have authority over them, only the Holy Spirit does.
I have mentioned only a few things that has gone wrong in the observing of human traditions while neglect of the Bible to build a "religion" rather than fostering a relationship with the indwelling Holy Spirit in every born again believer.
Marriage is a picture of Christ and His church, a permanent relationship, for this earth until one spouse dies and for the believer going to heaven a sealed relationship with Christ in the Spiritual.
The one-man pastor system denies Jesus Christ as the only mediator between man and God the Father, leaving the "pastor" the authority over the believer rather than the Holy Spirit Who should be reigning in our hearts. Rather than seeking the Holy Spirit Who has all the perfect answers many people rush to their pastor with their problems, even obeying him who often has wrong answers because he is not Spirit-filled.
Many people have placed their trust in seminary-trained pastors, some of whom are not even born again, rather than trusting in Christ. They prefer to have an authority they can see with their eyes and hear with their ears than Christ whom we must seek without hearing or seeing.
John 16:13 "However when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth; for He shall not speak from Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak, and He will show you things to come."
Notice God never said; "the pastor will lead you into all truth."
There were many times I have heard believers say; "but my pastor said it was alright"! In which case, my response was; "but what did God say"?
I never heard the people who look to pastors for their wisdom say they had consulted with God. They have placed their husbands or wives or pastors on the level above Christ to seek these people out first. No wonder the church is in such a mess.
If we consult our spouse for important matters then we must listen and then go to the Bible to see if they are right, a confirmation from the Word will tell you the right answer. Christ should be consulted first before any human being.
James 4:2-3
2 You lust and do not have, so you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, so that you may spend what you request on your pleasures."
We must seek God in prayer and His Word with the intention of hearing His will to obey Him. If we read the word to twist what we read to fit what we like we will be in rebellion against God and serious danger of discipline from the Lord.
It is vital that we question all that we were taught while asking the Lord for His wisdom willing to give up the wrong things we learned and replace them with God's Holy Truth. If you do this you will be amazed at how much error we have been taught and how wonderful it is to know the truth.
If no one goes with me, if I have to walk this path alone I will be far more blessed than if I were surrounded by people who live in error merely to be accepted.
Believers have Christ, He is all that is needed to be fulfilled, comforted and blessed. Hallelujah!!!!
