I plan on writing two blogs soon. One is an article on the season of singleness and how to use it to serve the Lord until God provides a helper for you to come together as one body in a covenant with God. The other article is in regards to celibacy and how Paul, under the inspiration of the Spirit, calls it a greater practice and how it can still be done today.
soli Deo gloria,
andrew travis pantazi
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Poem with the help of Ambassador's "A Girl Named World" and Byron's "She Walks in Beauty"
She walks in beauty like the night,
her face is brighter than all light
and the sun clouds in comparison to her,
she makes all of mankind stir.
All of mankind is enslaved to her magnificence
but they don't note the significance.
Why would they even want to fight
the feeling that is such a sight.
She walks in beauty like the night.
She is arrayed up in diamonds and pearls,
you start to get lost in her curls.
She keeps you living luxuriously
when you are with her you live avariciously.
You must grant her credence,
for all of mankind is enslaved to her magnificence.
There is one thing that slipped under the radar,
she has been trying to be the ruler of you longer than Nader.
She may have given you food to eat
but did you ever check to see that it was wheat.
For it was the fruits of lust that you ate
and that pleasure was just bait.
You wouldn't heed the warning
so now you are mourning.
You gave up your freedom
for romance and stardom.
Now comes punishment for your denial,
and you feel the loneliness and bile.
She promised you all the girls.
And she was arrayed up in diamonds and pearls.
"tragically thoughts of loneliness be attackin' me
You know how that can be so you offer me crack and weed
Distractin' me from reality with pleasure
Giving me treasure lettin' me indulge without measure"
All you cared about was winning my soul
and I feel for it and now I am down under like a mole.
Then I found out there is a reason
for my pain and a loophole for my treason.
I am lonely because she is a liar
and she can never satisfy my fire.
"I found a Bible and decided to read it
I never could think that you could have any competition 'til
I sweated the Bible's Author and it's Editor"
She is just a predator
but God is better.
I saw Him on a tree,
I found out I could be free.
I was able to see that you were nothing
only filled with stuffing.
He is loving,
and he is removing
all the sin you put in my heart
and now there is no sin on the chart.
For He was innocent while tempted,
and He died and was resurrected.
Now death has no hold over me,
and now all sins have been forgiven, you see?
For with God,
there is no thing that slips under the radar.
For He knows that this girl who has fury that is furled,
is the girl whose name is world.
her face is brighter than all light
and the sun clouds in comparison to her,
she makes all of mankind stir.
All of mankind is enslaved to her magnificence
but they don't note the significance.
Why would they even want to fight
the feeling that is such a sight.
She walks in beauty like the night.
She is arrayed up in diamonds and pearls,
you start to get lost in her curls.
She keeps you living luxuriously
when you are with her you live avariciously.
You must grant her credence,
for all of mankind is enslaved to her magnificence.
There is one thing that slipped under the radar,
she has been trying to be the ruler of you longer than Nader.
She may have given you food to eat
but did you ever check to see that it was wheat.
For it was the fruits of lust that you ate
and that pleasure was just bait.
You wouldn't heed the warning
so now you are mourning.
You gave up your freedom
for romance and stardom.
Now comes punishment for your denial,
and you feel the loneliness and bile.
She promised you all the girls.
And she was arrayed up in diamonds and pearls.
"tragically thoughts of loneliness be attackin' me
You know how that can be so you offer me crack and weed
Distractin' me from reality with pleasure
Giving me treasure lettin' me indulge without measure"
All you cared about was winning my soul
and I feel for it and now I am down under like a mole.
Then I found out there is a reason
for my pain and a loophole for my treason.
I am lonely because she is a liar
and she can never satisfy my fire.
"I found a Bible and decided to read it
I never could think that you could have any competition 'til
I sweated the Bible's Author and it's Editor"
She is just a predator
but God is better.
I saw Him on a tree,
I found out I could be free.
I was able to see that you were nothing
only filled with stuffing.
He is loving,
and he is removing
all the sin you put in my heart
and now there is no sin on the chart.
For He was innocent while tempted,
and He died and was resurrected.
Now death has no hold over me,
and now all sins have been forgiven, you see?
For with God,
there is no thing that slips under the radar.
For He knows that this girl who has fury that is furled,
is the girl whose name is world.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Abortion
I feel most compelled to speak (or write) out against abortion. I feel that the greatest atrocity that has occurred in American history is not any war but rather the abortion that has killed millions of babies. Since this issue burns in my heart more than any other, I have been working on an essay about abortion for a long time. I recently tried to end it by cutting out all of the information that made it confusing (such as a long and drawn out bit about the physical development of the unborn) and made it more understandable. However, I hope to continue writing about this issue.
Philosophical and Scientific Reasons for the Abolishment of Abortion
By: andrew travis pantazi
September 6, 2007
"Many people are very, very concerned with children in
Mother Teresa even says that abortion is an important neglected issue, especially in
Remember that from the beginning to the end of life, we have the same DNA. While you are still a fetus, your DNA is the same as it is when you die. Therefore, you cannot be a part of your mother’s body. You are a second DNA within her. Your genetics are separate from hers; although there may be similarities, you have a distinct DNA. “The question of when life begins can be settled by science—and it has been. Biologically, the human zygote is a separate organism from the time of conception—genetically unique and distinct from its parents, developing according to its own genetic ‘blueprint.’” Chuck Colson, Breakpoint. Science can tell us plainly that though the baby is attached to the mother it is still a separate being. Would you say that because conjoined twins are connected that means they are not separate beings? This is also similar to saying that conjoined twins are actually one person, even though they have separate DNA they are connected and therefore one of the twins could choose to kill the other with no consequences since they have the same body. “Although the unborn entity is attached to its mother, it is not part of her. To say that the unborn entity is part of its mother is to claim that the mother possesses four legs, two heads, two noses, and -- with the case of a male conceptus -- a penis and two testicles… Hence, abortion is not justified, since no one's right to personal autonomy is so strong that it permits the arbitrary execution of others.” (Source: Beckwith, Francis J. “Answering the Arguments for Abortion Rights, Part Two: Arguments from Pity, Tolerance, and Ad Hominem.” Christian Research Journal (1991): 27-32.) Scot Klusendorf, pro-life advocate, said this about the abortion debate, “Let me be clear. I am vigorously “pro-choice” when it comes to women choosing a number of moral goods. I support a woman’s right to choose her own health care provider, to choose her own school, to choose her own husband, to choose her own job, to choose her own religion, and to choose her own career, to name a few. These are among the many choices that I fully support for the women of our country. But some choices are wrong, like killing innocent human beings simply because they are in the way and cannot defend themselves. No, we shouldn’t be allowed to choose that.
“Pro-life advocates contend that elective abortion unjustly takes the life of a defenseless human being. This simplifies the abortion controversy by focusing public attention on just one question: Is the unborn a member of the human family? If so, killing him or her to benefit others is a serious moral wrong. Conversely, if the unborn are not human, elective abortion requires no more justification than having a tooth pulled.” Therefore, if the unborn are not human then the woman should be allowed to have an abortion, so there is only one question to focus on, “ARE THE UNBORN HUMAN?”
SCIENCE: Even former Planned Parenthood President Dr. Alan Guttmacher did not see how anyone could conclude that a fetus is a distinct and separate human being from their mother. "This all seems so simple and evident that it is difficult to picture a time when it wasn't part of the common knowledge," (A. Guttmacher, Life in the Making: the Story of Human Procreation (New York: Viking Press, 1933) p. 3). Scott Klusendorf, pro-life advocate, said in an essay, “Ronald Bailey of Reason magazine insists that we gain no real knowledge from these scientific facts. Bailey argues that embryonic human beings are biologically human only in the sense that every cell in the body carries the full genetic code, meaning that each of our somatic (bodily) cells has as much potential for development as any human embryo.(Ronald Bailey, “Are Stem Cells Babies? Reason, July 11, 2001.) Put simply, Bailey would have us believe that there is no difference in kind between a human embryo and each of our cells. This is bad biology. Bailey is making the rather elementary mistake of confusing parts with wholes. The difference in kind between each of our cells and a human embryo is clear: An individual cell’s functions are subordinated to the survival of the larger organism of which it is merely a part. The human embryo, however, is already a whole human entity. It makes no sense to say that you were once a sperm or somatic cell. However, the facts of science make clear that you were once a human embryo. “Somatic cells are not, and embryonic human beings are, distinct, self-integrating organisms capable of directing their own maturation as members of the human species.” (Robert George and Patrick Lee, “Reason, Science, and Stem Cells,” National Review On-Line, 7-20-01.)
PHILOSOPHY: Pro-choice advocates generally use four major arguments. Those are SLED or Size, Level of development, Environment, and Degree of dependency. However, most of these people have unfortunately never seen that all of these arguments actually point to the unborn having a right to life. Size is an irrelevant argument. The fact that an unborn child is of an extremely small size ranging from a zygote to the newborn means nothing about whether they are living humans. That size range is much smaller than the size range of someone who is plagued with dwarfism compared to someone with gigantism. Both are equally human regardless of size. While the Level of development of the unborn is less developed than a toddler, this is still not a valid argument. After all a little six-year-old child is not as developed as a middle-aged man is. Does this mean we have a right to end the life of a six-year-old because they are not as developed and therefore not human? Of course not! The child is equally human to a middle-aged man. It is true that the unborn baby does not have the capacity for self-awareness, however neither do newborn babies and most people would agree that newborn babies should have the right to live. However, there are some bio-ethicists such as
As a Christian, I must believe that God created all humans equally. If the unborn are humans, then they are equal to a human of any age and any development. Genesis 1:26-28 says, "Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”" (Genesis 1:26-28, NASB95) Mankind was made in God’s image and just as it was vitally important for William Wilberforce, a strong Christian who wrote theological works and was the main frontrunner for the abolition of slavery, to abolish slavery in
Thursday, August 16, 2007
The Wickedness of Lying
Wickedness of Lying
August 12, 2007
andrew travis pantazi
"Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him— a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all." (Colossians 3:9-11, NASB95)
It is clear that lying is considered an evil practice that was part of our old self before we were saved. In this particular passage, Paul is clarifying that we are now a new person who should not be lying to one another, instead we should be renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of God. The only identifying feature for ourselves is that we are shown as one who is renewed in Christ’s blood.
"There are six things which the Lord hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil, A false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers." (Proverbs 6:16-19, NASB95) "Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, But those who deal faithfully are His delight." (Proverbs 12:22, NASB95)
God hates lying. It is an abomination to God, so much so that when Solomon listed the seven things that are an abomination to God, he listed lying twice. In Matthew Henry’s commentary on Proverbs 6:16-19, he says, “There are seven things which God hates, and lying involves two of them; he hates it, and doubly hates it.”[1]
"But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken falsehood, Your tongue mutters wickedness." (Isaiah 59:2-3, NASB95)
When Isaiah is listing the things that separated us from God, he lists both that our lips spoke falsehoods (or lies) and that our tongue mutters wickedness (including blasphemy, lies, curses, etc.). Isaiah knows personally what unclean lips does to a man’s integrity, before he was called as a prophet Isaiah had a problem with lying. "Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am
"“You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. “But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me." (John 8:44-45, NASB95)
Satan is the father of lies, lying is a part of his own nature. We are of our father so we want to do the desires of our father, and we make Satan our father. However, "“I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father.”" (John 8:38, NASB95) Jesus does the things of His Father, which is that he speaks the truth and because we are so accustomed to lies that we do not believe someone who speaks truth.
"I hate and despise falsehood, But I love Your law." (Psalm 119:163, NASB95) In this Psalm with an unknown author, we find the author praising God for His Law and His Word. It talks of how the author hates falsehoods and asks God to be able to praise Him for His commandments are righteous. This shows that we as the saints should hate falsehoods in false religions and philosophies as well as within ourselves and in everyday speech, on the other side we must also love the Law of God. "A righteous man hates falsehood, But a wicked man acts disgustingly and shamefully." (Proverbs 13:5, NASB95)
In the New King James Version of Isaiah 63:8 it says, "For He said, “Surely they are My people, Children who will not lie.” So He became their Savior." (Isaiah 63:8, NKJV) Surely we are God’s people, we are children who will not lie. In context, the chapter is talking about God having judgment on those who have not accepted salvation and lived for God compared to the mercy that God has for His children who have faith in Him. God characterizes us as those ‘who will not lie’ yet too often we ignore this and still lie thinking that it is only a white lie or a white sin. That it is not that bad of a sin, instead the Bible tells us how God despises lies and treasures truth.
"How blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust, And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood." (Psalm 40:4, NASB95) An easier and more blatant literal translation of this passage is the NET Bible’s, which says, "How blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord and does not seek help from the proud or from liars!" (Psalm 40:4, NET) Basically, we would be a fool to put our trust in the liars and proud over the Lord. We are blessed by trusting in the Lord, if not physically then spiritually. The Hebrew word for blessed means happiness that we get from security in the Lord, so if we trust in the Lord then we have security and are given happiness.
"My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; He who walks in a blameless way is the one who will minister to me. He who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house; He who speaks falsehood shall not maintain his position before me. Every morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land, So as to cut off from the city of the Lord all those who do iniquity." (Psalm 101:6-8, NASB95) David wrote this Psalm not saying that we should be rude to all liars and anyone who has ever sinned (which would be everybody), instead he is saying that we must protect our hearts, homes, cities, and governments. We do this by punishing wrong doing, throughout this psalm, David talks of different things which he hates and will punish. In the beginning of v. 5, he says, "Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy." (Psalm 101:5, NASB95) This is so that David can protect God’s people, God’s Kingdom.
The simplistic and easy-to-understand New Century Version puts Psalm 119:29 in this way: "Don’t let me be dishonest; have mercy on me by helping me obey Your teachings." (Psalm 119:29, NCV) This is a prayer that we should all have. We should pray that the Lord will keep us from falling into dishonesty and to help us to obey His commands.[3][4][5][6]
[1]Henry, M. (1996, c1991). Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible : Complete and unabridged in one volume (Pr 6:12).
[2]Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). Tyndale Bible dictionary. Tyndale reference library (1085).
[3] The Everyday Bible : New Century Version. 2005.
[4] Biblical Studies Press. (2006; 2006). The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible. Biblical Studies Press.
[5] The New King James Version. 1982.
[6] New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995.
How Lying has Hurt My Relationship with God and My Family
How Lying has Hurt My Relationship with God and My Family
andrew travis pantazi
August 13, 2007
(All scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible unless otherwise noted)
The Bible is continuously saying throughout both the Old and New Testaments of how lying is a wicked and vile evil. Solomon said that it is in the list of seven things that are an abomination to the Lord twice, meaning it is doubly an abomination to the Lord. "There are six things which the Lord hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood… A false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers." (Proverbs 6:16-17, 19, NASB95) Later Solomon also said, "Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, But those who deal faithfully are His delight." (Proverbs 12:22, NASB95) This means that when I lie I am committing a sin that is an abomination to the Lord, when I lied to Mom and told her that I had cleaned the bathroom not only was I violating her but I was also violating God. It is vital to understand that God hates, despises, and cannot stand deceit. "He who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house; He who speaks falsehood shall not maintain his position before me." (Psalm 101:7, NASB95) David was saying this because he did not want any evildoers to both influence and do wicked things to God’s people, which shows that I am also violating the person when I lie to them. Lying is such a serious offense that God said liars will not be allowed into the New Jerusalem, after all God is perfect and He cannot live with deceit or allow deceit to go unpunished, "And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God… and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life." (Revelation 21:10, 27, NASB95) When the Bible is talking of lies there are no little white lies, instead a lie is a lie. A lie is defined as any attempt at deceiving, that is why when David was talking in Psalm 101 he says “he who practices deceit” as another way for saying liars. My lying is not something I should look at as a mere character flaw, instead I should look at it as a vile thing that is hindering my walk with the Lord and my fellowship with other Christians.
"But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken falsehood, Your tongue mutters wickedness." (Isaiah 59:2-3, NASB95) Isaiah views lying and a wicked tongue to be just as bad as have hands defiled with blood (or murder). That is how horrible of a sin it is when I tell a lie, it is the just as wicked as if I were murdering someone and it sets a separation between God and me. We were created as whole and perfect beings. We had perfect integrity, the word integrity comes from the Latin word ‘integer’ meaning intact and/or untouched. That is the same root as the mathematical term for integer. One of the ways we lose our integrity or wholeness is by lying. When we lie we are tearing off a part of our goodness and are no longer intact and untouched for we have been touched with evil. That is how lying undermines our very integrity. In the book ‘Little Britches’, there is an important excerpt that outlines the idea of ruining our integrity. “A man’s character is like his house. If he tears boards off his house and burns them to keep himself warm and comfortable, his house soon becomes a ruin. A man with a ruined character is a shame on the face of the earth.” This is true for every time that I lie just so that I can have temporal relief that means that in the long run I will be ruined. Usually that temporal relief does not even come and either because of being immediately caught lying or because of guilt making us have no enjoyment or relief since conviction is in our mind.
One of the ways that lying hurts my relationship with God is that it causes doubt to be in my mind. Jesus says to us, "“You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. “But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me." (John 8:44-45, NASB95) We have made the devil our father and we lie and murder because that is our father’s nature and because Jesus speaks the truth we do not believe Him. For we have made lies to be our nature even though we were originally made our nature being truth. Just as we do the actions of the devil our father, Jesus tells the truth because that is the nature of His father, just before saying the earlier passage He said, "“I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father.”" (John 8:38, NASB95) The way that we identify who we are following is how we act. If we act in a way that resembles the devil than he has become our father, however if we act in the manner of God then we have accepted Him as our Father. If we are truly saved then we should be putting to death the works of the flesh. "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." (2 Corinthians 5:17, NASB95) "Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry… Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices," (Colossians 3:5, 9, NASB95) "for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live." (Romans 8:13, NASB95) All of these passages tell us that if we are still living in our sin then we are not in Christ and we must put to death the fleshly desires and sins, including lies. I need to know that if I am in Christ then I must be a new creation, where old things (lying) has passed away and behold, new things (love, humility, peacefulness, etc.) have come. If I am not living in this way then I am lying to myself and to God for I cannot be a Christian and not killing my sin.[1]
My Lying Problem
After being caught in my sin of lying to my parents, my parents decided to make me write a paper on lying, preach on the issue to my family, and memorize two passages. I decided to post my papers on here (I ended up doing two). One of the papers is more personal dealing with myself while the other is almost purely bible verses that lead you to the conclusion on its own. So I am going to follow this post with two posts. I struggle daily with this sin and I hope that you will pray for me as I wage a war inside myself.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
The Theological Impact of the Church’s Faulty Teaching on Believers and Unbelievers
The Theological Impact of the Church’s Faulty Teaching on Believers and Unbelievers
Why do Atheists have more love and passion for studying Christian theology then most Christians do?
By: andrew travis pantazi
(All Bible Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible unless otherwise noted)
Isaiah 30:10 says, "Who say to the seers, “You must not see visions”; And to the prophets, “You must not prophesy to us what is right, Speak to us pleasant words, Prophesy illusions." (Isaiah 30:10) This was in a time where prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah were preaching of the wrath of God coming to Israel, (Jer. 4:19) however they were the only prophets prophesying this because all of the other prophets were preaching that peace was going to come to Israel.(Jer. 6:14, 8:11) Throughout all of the Old Testament prophets’ lives, they were confronted by false teachers. The false teachers would preach what
However, when unbelievers see our current teaching, even they can see that the faulty doctrine does not match up to the standard which was set for true teaching. Matthew Henry stated that, “Christ, in his person and offices, is the sum and substance of the gospel, and ought to be the great subject of a gospel minister’s preaching.”[2] Is Christ the sum and substance of the gospel that preachers like Benny Hinn are teaching? To answer my own question, no. These preachers are prosperity gospel ministers, their sum and substance is that Jesus came to shepherd us to health and wealth not as a way for us to be saved from our sin for the purpose to worship God forever whether we are rich or not. The teachers of this gospel are merely motivational speakers who are great speakers. A true teacher does not need to be a great speaker, he merely needs to be a holy man of God who is preaching Christ and Him crucified. He must be reflecting God and following His word remembering that it is not him who is great but God using him, Paul would have been nothing without the Holy Spirit. He must also be called by the Holy Spirit, without this calling he is doing it only of his own accord and not the Lord’s. Matthew Henry talked about the Church of England in this respect when he stated, “This is the question proposed to those who offer themselves to the ministry of the church of England: "Do you think you are moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon you this office?’’[3] William Tyndale talked more on the qualifications of leadership, “The problem was not with desiring to be a leader. It was with being qualified to be a leader. Leadership is not something a person gets just because he wants it.”[4]
So we have identified that there is false teaching and false prophesying which is basically any teaching that is contrary to Christ and Him crucified. But then there are false leaders which are merely any leaders who do not meet all of the qualifications of leadership. It is no wonder that Christians are called hypocrites when most of our leaders don’t meet the requirements and because of this we can be sure that on the day of judgment they will be dealt with harshly. With all that has been going on with preachers like Ted Haggard, Jesus, Himself, talked about these wolves pretending to be sheep. “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?” (Matthew 7:15-16) So how do we determine a true preacher from a false one? The preacher who is true will be living a life of God and bearing fruits of God. Any preacher who is living a life that is consistently dwelling in sin without repenting will not be living the life that God has demanded he live. Matthew Henry explains this well in his commentary on 1 Timothy 3, “He must be of good reputation among his neighbours, and under no reproach from former conversation; for the devil will make use of that to ensnare others, and work in them an aversion to the doctrine of Christ preached by those who have not had a good report.” [5] If a preacher is not living the life that is necessary than the devil can use that to put doubt in both believers and unbelievers. "For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God." (2 Corinthians 2:15-17) Every Christian and especially every teacher or prophet needs to ask themselves, “What kind of aroma am I? Am I an aroma from death to death or life to life?” We need to remember that “we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.” "But what I am doing I will continue to do, so that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds." (2 Corinthians 11:12-15) Satan comes as an “angel of light” and his servants disguise themselves as “servants of righteousness”. We should not be fooled by these peddlers who take three offerings before every sermon, who claim that it is God’s will that they are blessed with a new jet but that it will require everyone to give them an abundance of money. They have turned God’s house into a den of thieves. (Matthew 21:12-13) For them this is just a business, a means to an ends, and the end is wealth. "“From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of hosts. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings." (Malachi 3:7-8) In this case the Lord punished them for not paying tithes and offering because they neglected to maintain temple-worship. Nowadays, the problem isn’t that we aren’t paying tithes and offering but it is the priests who collect the tithes and offerings are using the money for their own personal gain they use it to buy whatever luxury that they want. "“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows." (Malachi 3:10) This tells us what we are supposed to do with the tithes and offering, we are to put it in the storehouse for the Lord. Not for our own personal gain so that we can live in a sickening manner. However, just because a teacher is living a life that is pleasing only to Satan and himself doesn’t mean that we can say that is the reason we don’t obey the Word. " Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them." (Matthew 23:1-3) We should not live the lives of these preachers who live contrary to the Gospel, but if these preachers are still preaching a Christ-centric Gospel. If they are still preaching Christ and Him crucified then we should still obey the Word, just don’t live their life. However, this does not mean that just because someone is an ordained minister, bishop, preacher, priest, pastor, chaplain, or any other type of teacher of the Word does not mean that they actually are a qualified prophet or teacher. The bottom line of true shepherds is that they must be using the Bible as their basis of teaching for us to heed their teaching.
We can obviously see how this impacts the church, it causes confusion, disarray, disobedience, and meandering away from God’s divine purpose for everything, which is to worship Him. However, this doesn’t just impact the Body of believers. This impacts unbelievers and probably hurts them even more. Unbelievers study the Word because they are generally seeking answers and are trying to prove to themselves that Christianity is false, when they see that most our doctrine is contradictory because we are not focusing on the Bible. Even unscholarly (scholarly does not mean intellectual but rather anyone who is continually studying with the purpose of understanding the world better) unbelievers think that believers are false simply because of all of the strife within faulty believers. As Francis Schaeffer said, the final apologetic of Christians is the love and unity in the church.[6] When atheists see lukewarm and fake Christians who do not have any love and unity because they do not have Jesus they believe that the Gospel must be false if we are not living the life that the Bible says we should. This can be a stumbling block for any atheist who knows what the Gospel says. The Great News Network filmed a famous interview with an atheist. In this interview, the atheist knew more theology than most Christians do. He used scriptural references throughout the interview and he explained that Christians know that unbelievers are going to Hades and Hell yet the majority of them do not do anything about it. They see people all around them dying and by their beliefs they think they will suffer a horrible punishment in Hades and Hell, yet they sit idly on their couches. For him, this lifestyle that was contrary to the Great Commission and all of the Gospel was a hindrance for him to come to Christ. This shows us that our teachings, our teachers, and our lifestyles have an immense theological impact on both believers and unbelievers.
[1] MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006) How to Enjoy Bible Study. Grace to You.
[2]Henry, M. (1996, c1991). Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible : Complete and unabridged in one volume (1 Co 2:1).
[3]Henry, M. (1996, c1991). Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible : Complete and unabridged in one volume (1 Ti 3:1).
[4]Hughes, R. B., Laney, J. C., & Hughes, R. B. (2001). Tyndale concise Bible commentary. Rev. ed. of: New Bible companion. 1990.; Includes index. The Tyndale reference library (638).
[5]Henry, M. (1996, c1991). Matthew Henry's commentary on the whole Bible : Complete and unabridged in one volume (1 Ti 3:1).
[6] Schaeffer, F. A., The Mark of the Christian, 1976.
[7] New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995.
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