Matthew 11:16-17 (ASV) But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the marketplaces, who call unto their fellows and say, We piped unto you, and ye did not dance; we wailed, and ye did not mourn.
I wonder if the Lord does not see the many denominations in Christendom in this way.
God calls us both to mourn and to dance, both to weeping and to praise. But it seems that we avoid morning and weeping and are dancing and praising in lameness.
When Jesus said call no man Father the point he was making was this: we should place no man or human being above our Father God. We should consider God our first source of all things necessary for life and godliness, for all good and perfect gifts come from God. Don't let the words of men stand in the way of what God has said. Don't let the early churchmen you call fathers, the priests you call fathers, or the Pope, the man you call holy father be your first source(s). Our Father is our Creator. He is source of all things. He is truly the only source of that which is good, the only source we should look to and the only source we need.
All the Christian denominations need to give the supremacy they claim back to the Name of the Christ, the Holy Spirit and God our Father.
God has given us apostles. He sent them out from Jerusalem to teach us to observe all that Jesus commanded them. God did not send them out to add to or subtract from his words. I will not be at all surprised when I am judged at the Bema to see that some of my words have been inadequate or excessive. My goal is to continually discern both the depth and the simplicity of the Word of God: logos, rhema, Yeshua, and to be spiritually and accurately conversant concerning them.
How can anyone dare to judge men's words with no discernment of God's word? And how shall we discern God's word? Man does not give spiritual discernment. Spiritual discernment is a gift from God. What the Holy Spirit teaches is true. Whatever man teaches must be spiritually discerned, and without the Holy Spirit it cannot be discerned. If you read this, I'm not seeking to impress you or to have you as my follower. Doubt anything or everything I say and seek God to tell you His truth.
My prayer is that you pray that the Holy Spirit help you discern all the New and Old Testament. and if you will here in particular what Paul wrote. Here are some verses from 1st Corinthians:
"I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified."
"For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not in wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made void."
"Now the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, and he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ."
"For when one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not men? What then is Apollos? and what is Paul? Ministers through whom ye believed; and each as the Lord gave to him. I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase."
" For when one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not men?"
Paul could have written 'For when one saith, I am of Peter...' And that is what Rome says. You make Peter the Cornerstone and the Capstone of your religion by insisting he and all your popes are substitute Christ's to rule the church on Earth. Here's what Peter wrote:
1 Peter 1:17-21 (ASV) And if ye call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to each man's work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear:
knowing that ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers;
but with precious blood, as of a lamb without spot, [even the blood] of Christ:
who was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but was manifested at the end of times for your sake,
who through him are believers in God, that raised him from the dead, and gave him glory; so that your faith and hope might be in God.
Note that Peter refers to the vain manner of life handed down to them through their fathers. That is what the Jewish Pharisees and Sadducees had done with the Law of Sinai. And that is what Roman Catholicism has done with the Old and New Testaments. It has manhandled and manipulated the teaching of Christ. It has added traditions and teachings of men to the teachings of Christ and his apostles. If I were more daring I would say they are damnable heresies and doctrines of demons as others do say. One thing more than any seems to suggest that this could be true: Roman Catholicism tolerates and condones sexual misbehavior in its priests, and likely in its nuns. They should be forgiven and we should forgive them but it is next to unforgivable to allow those who a sexual abusers of children to remain in positions of authority and influence over both young AND old.
It has declared itself the sole authority over God's Church. With a literal trowels and shovels funded by tithes and indulgences it has built an earthly empire and called it a kingdom.
2 Peter 3:13-18 (ASV) But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for these things, give diligence that ye may be found in peace, without spot and blameless in his sight.
And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote unto you;
as also in all [his] epistles, speaking in them of these things; wherein are some things hard to be understood, which the ignorant and unstedfast wrest, as [they do] also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
Ye therefore, beloved, knowing [these things] beforehand, beware lest, being carried away with the error of the wicked, ye fall from your own stedfastness.
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him [be] the glory both now and for ever. Amen.
Peter was far more concerned that we be of Heaven than of Rome yes? No? If not he would have written about Rome.
And here's the context of the verses from Paul that I quoted above:
1 Corinthians 1:10-31 (ASV) Now I beseech you, brethren, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing and [that] there be no divisions among you; but [that] ye be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
For it hath been signified unto me concerning you, my brethren, by them [that are of the household] of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
Now this I mean, that each one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos: and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.
Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized into the name of Paul?
I thank God that I baptized none of you, save Crispus and Gaius;
lest any man should say that ye were baptized into my name.
And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.
For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not in wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made void.
For the word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of God.
For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the discernment of the discerning will I bring to nought.
Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, it was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe.
Seeing that Jews ask for signs, and Greeks seek after wisdom:
but we preach Christ crucified, unto Jews a stumblingblock, and unto Gentiles foolishness;
but unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For behold your calling, brethren, that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, [are called]:
but God chose the foolish things of the world, that he might put to shame them that are wise; and God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong;
and the base things of the world, and the things that are despised, did God choose, [yea] and the things that are not, that he might bring to nought the things that are:
that no flesh should glory before God.
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption:
that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
1 Corinthians 2:1-16 (ASV) And I, brethren, when I came unto you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.
For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
And my speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
We speak wisdom, however, among them that are fullgrown: yet a wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nought:
but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, [even] the [wisdom] that hath been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds unto our glory:
which none of the rulers of this world hath known: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory:
but as it is written, Things which eye saw not, and ear heard not, And [which] entered not into the heart of man, Whatsoever things God prepared for them that love him.
But unto us God revealed [them] through the Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
For who among men knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of the man, which is in him? even so the things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit of God.
But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is from God; that we might know the things that were freely given to us of God.
Which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth; combining spiritual things with spiritual [words].
Now the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged.
But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, and he himself is judged of no man.
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:1-9 (ASV) And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ.
I fed you with milk, not with meat; for ye were not yet able [to bear it]: nay, not even now are ye able;
for ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you jealousy and strife, are ye not carnal, and do ye not walk after the manner of men?
For when one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not men?
What then is Apollos? and what is Paul? Ministers through whom ye believed; and each as the Lord gave to him.
I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: but each shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.
For we are God's fellow-workers: ye are God's husbandry, God's building.
