priests, selling episcopates, having a chain of command, putting everyone under a pope, etc. During the Reformation this system received a fatal wound, and now we see the remnants of papal authority as mere artifacts for the superstitious. No longer are unauthorized ministers hunted down, tortured, and burned at the stake, in other words.

However, the modern church still has its ordination process by which only those who have a certificate can preach. The Episcopalian church, for instance, ordains homosexuals. The Pentecostal churches commonly ordain adulterers (once they have divorced and remarried under an ordained Pentecostal minister of course). In order to get a certificate for preaching, you still must pay the piper, in other words.

The only place left for unauthorized preachers is the street. If an authorized preacher tries to gain support from any local church, he is met with apologies, empty promises or just plain condemnation. Any church, whether it be two thousand years old and has 250 million followers, or a church of a dozen just started yesterday, will not give support to local street preachers. They will only support them if they bear the name of their church as the way to Jesus Christ, which is of course, heresy.

And so, the Catholic Church and her daughters continue the tradition of suppressing the truth in unrighteousness, and that´s why God is giving them over to homosexuality as final proof. It starts with making the women rule over the men, then the children, and finally the effeminate man is put into authority over the church.

These are hard words but true. What men will preach the truth, as unauthorized as it may be?  If you are a man and claim to be a Christian, you should check out the street preacher and see if he is telling the truth. You should not condemn him because he sounds like a man (or a "bullhorn" for those who have learned the feminized gospel). 

Please let this unauthorized bullhorn message sink down into your innermost being:  "Repent."

Chris Simonson - 8/29/2007

Let Us Contend

As Christians, and brothers, God has called us to contend earnestly for the Faith (Jude 1); it is a daunting, ongoing task. The reason we pursue such a task in spite of opposition is because there are certain men who have crept in unawares, whom are attempting to turn the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ into lasciviousness. So, as Christians, brethren and elders of the Church it is our commitment (inspired by the Spirit) and out of our love for God's word, and love also for the Brethren which He has given us, to contend earnestly for the Faith.

This word contend can be translated fight for, fight with... as in battle; the war which is now being waged against Christendom is doing so to destroy the faith of the faithful, to tear down our guard through ease and comfort. Many Brethren have thus fallen asleep. Continuing their religious traditional appearance, they have all but walked away from Christ... choosing the pleasures of this earth, rather than esteeming the reproach of Christ.Instead of following Moses, whom turned down the treasures of Egypt, these men have followed the way of Cain (whose offering the Lord did not respect).

This battle is being waged on all fronts; it is even waged in our families. Some Brethren have testified of the truth of the prophet Micah's words: "For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man's enemies [are] the men of his own house." (Micah 7:6)

Our Lord also emphasized this: "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes [shall be] they of his own household." (Matthew 10:34-36)

The war it rages in our fellowships and congregations. "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." 1 Timothy 6:10 These fellowships and congregations bear the brunt of the damnable heresies and diabolical liars brought in by false teachers and false prophets, whom via sweet sermons and con-men's tactics, will make merchandise of you. (2 Peter 2:1-3)

This war is being fought also among our wives and children: "[As for] my people, children [are] their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause [thee] to err, and destroy the way of thy paths." Isaiah 3:12 The rise of unchecked feminism and the doctrine of 'free love', tolerated by those whom call themselves 'Christians,' is trying to destroy the very foundation upon which Christendom has been built. Through rampant adultery and fornications the modern church has become anaemic and hardened to sin. The end result is the acceptance and tolerance of the most defiled of perversions, like homosexuality, which the modern church has but almost embraced; this is despite the over 2000 years wherein such actions and sin Christendom universally condemned in concordance with the Scriptures, knowing God's wrath abides upon the presence of such evils. (Romans 1:18-32)

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;" Romans 1:18

Brethren, God has called us to be faithful despite the advances of the evil one. He has throughly equipped us for such battles, so let us gird our loins with Truth, our feet being shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace, having the breastplate of Righteousness, putting on the helmet of Salvation, taking up the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

As an Olympic runner, let us run the race to win... fearing the Lord instead of man. Let us contend earnestly for the Faith, even knowing the days ahead will wax worse.

"But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned [them];" 2 Timothy 3:13-14

"Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of [this] life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier." 2 Timothy 2:3-4

"But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry." 2 Timothy 4:5

Steven - 8/28/2007

1. Be committed to preaching the Gospel. If you are going to preach, then commit yourself; once a week is a great way to start. The most effective way to preach is continually being out there.

2. Find some brethren, at least one, to go with you.

3. Spend some time in the Scriptures with the brethren you are going out preaching with (before you go out), and have a time of prayer, specifically for the brethren, and their families and that the hearts would be open to receive the Gospel.

4. Try to connect with some local fellowships; not so much to proselytize, but to find brethren that are like-minded. Sometimes, you will find a fellowship with other brethren willing to spend time preaching the Gospel. Avoid bringing out groups to advertise this fellowship or that fellowship; it appears schismatic and often lead to agendas other than the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

5. Find some good gospel tracts. A lot of times people will try to find specific tracts relating to specific types of people, but the fact is that all people fall short of the glory of God and are in need of a Savior, and you can't ever go wrong picking a tract with the basic, Gospel message. The tracts should focus on the fact that to reject Christ has eternal consequences. Avoid the 'god-shaped hole in your heart', 'five steps to spiritual success', type of tracts; these type of tracts skip daintily around eternal damnation and are often void of the Gospel, leading to false converts. Avoid tracts that have a contract signature on them, as if one will now go to heaven because they signed the tract.

6. The most important event is the preparation before you go preach. Memorize Scripture; I recommend putting Scriptures on index cards, like makeshift flash-cards. This is important as many times people are in a hurry and you usually only have 1-2 minutes to present the Gospel to someone. This is where Scripture memory really comes in handy, as you may not have time to pull out your Bible to find that specific Scripture to communicate the Gospel; many times they respond better when Bible verses are presented, with responses of "What do you mean by that?" or "What does that mean?", which is better than winning the lottery as you get to explain the Gospel further.

7. When you go to the streets, take a specific area of the block or a particular corner, so the people get to know you there. Find a corner about 8-10 feet away from any entry/egress door, as not to block, and make sure your team stays away from standing in the middle of the sidewalk. When you present the tract, a good way to break the ice is to say "This is about Jesus." It is good to extol the name of the Lord every chance you get. Keep an eye on your team.

8. Continually pray to yourself while preaching, for conviction as people walk by and for repentance of sin. If you have time, pray for the brothers around you, pray for the Body of Christ in your area, and for those whom feed the flock. Pray for the persecuted Church. Pray that people would be drawn to you to hear the Gospel.

9. People respond to tracts mostly because they have something tangible in their hands, and sometimes feel obligated to inquire as to what the message is about.

10. Remember that when you present the Gospel it is always by faith; you don't know whether someone is going to come to Christ that day, or two years from then, or even at all. You go out because you are being obedient to the Scripture to peach the Good news of Jesus Christ, not because you see people 'coming to Christ'. That thinking is a common error and will often lead to frustration; you are not there to bean-count, but are there to present the Gospel. Whether you see them respond to the Gospel in repentance or respond to it by rejecting it, the Gospel is always effective; the word of God never comes back void.

So, when we are preaching the Gospel, we must have a Kingdom perspective, knowing we are winning souls for the Kingdom, through the work of the Holy Spirit. We should keep this in mind when we find ourselves hasty to ‘see’ people come to Christ. It is Christ whom is ultimately responsible for His Church and His Body; we are but mere servants of our Lord to present His Gospel.

Steven - 8/24/2007

Ministry In India

The following is a ministry newsletter from a Brother in India whom is preaching the Gospel to his surrounding area and running an orphanage out of his home, along with his wife and two children. Over the last month I have been corresponding with him:

MINISTRY NEWS FOR THE MONTH OF JULY 2007.

1 – July – 07 Monday to 7 – July – 07 Saturday.

During in this week I and my team brothers were worked among the tribal community. In 4 villages we are done the Lord’s work by conducting public street meetings beside the roads and tracts distribution and praying for the sick.

Daytime tracts distribution and praying for the sick and nighttime at 7:30 pm to 10:30 pm public Gospel meeting beside the road. We have been conducted 4 meetings in every meeting 45 to 52 people are attended. When we were conducting meetings some Hindu people came and given much trouble, when the meeting time they were stop the power and came with staff to beat us. But God wonderfully escaped us all of their wrong doings, and God has healed one sick woman who is Nagamma 53 year’s old suffering with leg pains since two years unable to walk. Some people are brought her to meeting at nighttime. We had prayed to her. Now she is fine and happy.

Please pray for these village people, they were very poor suffering for their daily bread and living very small huts. It is a great need to work among them continually.

9 – July – 07 Monday to 14 – July – 07 Saturday.

During in this week we have worked in Krishna district in 4 remote villages among the strong Hindus and Muslims. In Krishna district there are number of villages are very far for the town. And any preacher not reach them and even today they do not know about Jesus. In Krishna district in one of the rural remote village one of team brother work since few years among the Hindus.

Since many days we are looking to work such unreached villages. Really it is very danger and hard to work to those villages. In every village 3800 to 6000 people were living, they were worshiping idols and trees. We have distributed tracts door to door, person to person and said little about the Gospel and said to them for to know more about Gospel please come for street meeting. Every day daytime tracts distribution and praying for the sick. In two villages some people are very much willing to hear the word of God and two villages strongly rejected and beat us.

In fact there is a lot of work here to do and we are the first preachers introduce the Jesus. But few people are touched by the word of God and saying come every week and young people also very interested to know Good News. Please kindly pray there is great need to work continually among them.

16 – July – 07 Monday to 21 – July – 07 Saturday.

During in this week we have worked among the young people who are living in dark life. Many young men and women living without even knowledge of Jesus and living, as they like. In fact they have all kinds of bad habits and some affected HIV/AIDS.

The Lord has guided us to work among them. Through megaphone and personal Evangelism and tracts distribution we preach the Gospel among them. Few young men interested to hear the word of God and many are fully rejected. There is lot of need to work continually among them.

23 – July – 07 Monday to 28 – July – 07 Saturday.

During in this week I and my team brothers worked in Krishna district another 4 villages. 4 villages are very remote and so far for the town and they do not about Jesus Christ. If we search we did not find any one Christian.

Through street Evangelism, tracts distribution and street Evangelism we have preached the word of God. In public places people stand as a group, there we preach the Gospel through megaphone. In fact they were very much interested to hear the word of God. Very clearly we explain them and they were very much happy and two persons are brought us to their homes for to pray for their sick people. When we prayed for the sick people God has healed them. Please kindly see the two healing stories.

1. Ramasubba 32 yrs old woman suffering with long disease of backbone pain and unable to walk. Now she is fine and backbone pain gone. 2. Rukthika 49 yrs woman suffering with long time stomach pain. Now is fine and pain gone.

30 – July – 07 Monday to 31 – July – 07 Tuesday.

During in these two days we had worked our local places and visited church members houses and conducted on cottage prayer meeting.

Really there is a great need to work continually in Krishna district. One of our team brother Pastor Srinivasa Rao working there since few years among the Hindus, very hardly he is working. They are 29 church members all are very poor people; they were worshiping in a small hut.

Among the Hindus in many needs and problems he is working faithfully and sincerely. Many times his thatched church burn by the Hindus and beat by them and God escaped him from the dangerous conditions.

In fact I and my team brothers are living for Christ to fill full His work. In fact we always need your kind prayers and encouragement to reach the unreached.

Yours in His Services, K.Edukondalu - Pastor

2nd Ward
Repalle -522 265
Guntur Dist
A.P.India

Information Blog - 8/22/2007

Suffering Under Barrenness

Recently, I heard of a couple whom, even after years of marriage, were unable to have any children of their own... and chose to adopt. There are some married couples whom, as hard as they try and desire children, God has withheld said blessing from them, thus the solution of adoption appears to be more and more prevalent. I am not against adoption in any way, however, when considering adoption the couple in question should also consider their motives for doing so. Hopefully, it is not merely to achieve some picturesque dream of a family, or religious, social status. Most importantly we must recognize that God is the author of life, the One whom is behind the giving of life and the taking also thereof.

God tests us in various ways to see if we will have faith in Him through trials and tribulation. For many married couples they face this heart-rendering trial of barrenness. BUT, as in all trails, we must test everything in the light of God's Word through faith, knowing that God, our Lord, can bring us children through His will, if we just take an ounce of Faith and trust in Him.

The idea of barrenness as a trial is not a new concept, but is spoken of in many occasions in Scripture, such as Sarah, whom was promised a son in her old age (the news of which she laughed at). It was a test of faith for both her and her husband Abraham. Now, God does not promise that all women will bear children such as Sarah; she was chosen by God to bear a child whom would carry on the line of Israel. (Genesis 17)

The tendency of sin is to doubt what God has clearly promised to us. As a result of this doubt in Sarah and Abraham, Israel has always had a thorn in it's side: the descendants of Hagar's son, Ishmael... a people whom, to this day, are hell-bent-intent on running the Jewish people into the sea.

So believers, have you pursued your own wants or desires, in spite of your 'faith' in God? Are you prepared to suffer the consequences of such disobedience? Or, will you trust the Lord of Hosts, the God of all Creation, by faith, to provide His promise?

Steven - 8/20/2007

Men today talk a lot about God's love. They present God's love as a message of hope for depressed people or scared people. I suppose there is nothing wrong with that, if the message also allows room for the truth. The message of God's love is one of salvation, not a "fix-it" for making life here on earth easier or better.

Depression and fear are direct results of sin. If there were no sin, everything and everybody would be happy. There would be no pain, sorrow, sickness or death. This is not the case. Sin has brought all of these things into the world. The effects of sin are everywhere and deeply embedded into the matrix of the world. Without defining sin, except to say it leads to death and destruction, we will use it to define salvation.

"Salvation is deliverance from sin."

Sin has separated mankind from God. Sin has not only brought the curse of death, but it has also cut us off from any hope for reconciliation with God. That is, it has cut us off if we seek to please God in our fallen condition. He totally rejects our efforts. He sees our attempts to be good as filthy rags. His wrath is upon all who refuse to come to him on his terms instead of their own. Sin has made the minds of men into confused, hell-bent thinking machines determined to prove God wrong at every turn. Man proclaims his own righteousness and his love for God; God makes the final decision.

Sin therefore is the problem. There is another problem, closely related to sin. In the Garden of Eden story, sin enters the world through the disobedience of one man, Adam. However, there are a couple of steps to this. God says, "Don't." The serpent says, "Do. " Eve says "O.K." She does and then so does Adam. There is a serpent. He is the old adversary, the devil, Satan. He is crafty and appears as an angel of light. His servants appear as ministers of righteousness. With his deceptions working on us from the outside, and sin working on us from the inside, what possible chance do we have to be delivered from the effect of sin?

"Salvation is deliverance from sin."

God is righteous and holy. We are not. We sin daily and God hates it. He must do something about it. He has shown us what is right. The Ten Commandments, for instance, show the righteous requirements of a God who is holy. He tells us that if we break the law, then we must die. If we keep the law, we will live. He is right; we are wrong. Therefore, by the righteous requirements of the law, we must die.

However, that is not the end of the story. Throughout the Old Testament, there are promises of salvation. We see in the law of God provisions for payment of sins committed. We see the promise that if a man turns from his sin, he will be pardoned by God even if he has committed terrible things in the past. We hear from the prophets that there will be a Messiah, a Christ, who will redeem his people from their sins. This Messiah will deliver the chosen people from their enemies and reign over them forever and ever. This is how it is presented in the Old Testament to the Jews.

In the New Testament, we find that the promises given to the Jews are now open to the Gentiles through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We find that Jesus is the promised Christ. We see him crucified, bearing the sins of the world in final payment for all sins, past, present and future. We find the true repentance in believing in Jesus and calling him Lord. We behold the love of the Father. We find adoption as sons through the Spirit of God. We tremble as we hear, as never before told, that the earth and its ways will be consumed in fire, that the wicked will be cast into the lake of fire along with that old serpent, the devil, Satan.

There will be a new heaven and a new earth. There will never again be pain, sorrow, sickness or death. Only the righteous will be allowed. These are those who have washed their clothes in the blood of the Lamb. They have come out of the great tribulation that vexed both man and all creation. They will live forever with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ. They will see their Father and be loved by him for eternity. This is salvation.

Chris Simonson - 8/17/2007

How to Tell the Difference Between Up & Down

Our society has been infected with far eastern religious thought. These religions teach that there are many paths to god, and many gods. There is no 'evil' except preconceived notions about reality, and even this is not really evil. Good is only in the mind of the beholder. Only problem is, with this philosophy, we wind up judging good to be evil, and evil to be good. We speak evil against preachers of the gospel; good towards smiling liars.

Jesus spent more time warning against hell than he did speaking of heaven. Heaven was up, hell was down. He knew that in order to get to heaven a man must avoid hell. He didn´t make up little positive-sounding sermons so we didn´t think about our sinful condition before a righteous God. If we read the gospel of John, we won´t find much in there about warnings, but we do find Jesus saying, "The world hates me because I testify against it, that its deeds are evil." John must have been relying on the fact that the other gospels already covered this material in detail, which they do.

Sometimes, it becomes a little complicated though when we try to distinguish good from evil. Many Christians say we are not to rely upon our feelings. Those who say this usually rely upon their feelings 90% of the time, so platitudes don´t help. Many Christians go to church faithfully and rely upon the teachings of their church. But this does not insure that they know good from evil.

If they have been taught that only the blood of Jesus Christ can pay for their sins, and they understand what that means, it is well. If they trust in Christ for their deliverance, their sustenance, their happiness and their fulfillment, then they know the Good One, God Himself.

However, in the modern church we find a tolerance for other methods of salvation. We don´t know up from down. The words, `believe in Jesus,´ can mean anything, depending on what part of earth you´re from. Left is right and right is left. Darkness and light cannot be distinguished. If one tries to distinguish the good from the evil, he is told, "Judge not."

Those who condemn efforts to judge right from wrong misuse the scriptures. Jesus told the hypocrites of his day that they used the scriptures to justify themselves, but that they did not hear what the words said about Jesus himself. He told them that if they heard the words correctly they would come to him and he would give them eternal life. He proceeded to warn the others about them. He said, "Judge not," (Matthew 7:1) and he taught against hypocrisy. He taught to watch out for these guys that look real religious on the outside, but inside they are full of dead men´s bones. He said they will look real innocent like sheep, but inside they are ravening wolves.

How to tell them apart? Look at the "Judge not" verse and read a little further to verse 15. You are now responsible for judging between good and evil.

Chris Simonson - 8/16/2007

Initiative:

One meaning of this word is to petition government to put something on a ballot measure so voters can vote on it. There are other uses for the word, maybe like the `Dharma Initiative´ on a TV series, or maybe in virtual combat it is number assigned to an action figure.

A little-remembered use of the word `initiative´ is a capacity to take action without being told or requested to do every little thing. In times of surfeit and complacency, initiative is not rewarded; sometimes it is punished. I´m not talking about women´s lib or homosexual agendas, but about initiative from men and women who know right from wrong. Jesus said that we are the `light of the world´ and the `salt of the earth,´ but he warned about the salt losing its taste. We can make up all kinds of stories about what `salt´ means and take action on issues that have nothing whatever to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ as a result; however, this is not initiative working but usually only manipulation and brainwashing (how else could have women libbers and homosexuals taken over the church?).

The salt we have within ourselves is the message of the gospel. If we use some other meaning, then we have strayed from home and we are like birds without a nest. It takes some initiative on our part to speak the gospel. Our worldly lives are at stake, our human nature is against it, and our teachers hide in the rocks. We are like the Biblical Israel who were under the thumb of the Philistines. They could own no weapons (is not the word of God a sword?); they could own no equipment to even sharpen their plows (smart enemy knows that blunt farming implements can´t slice and dice). Lots of Christians own lots of Bibles in this country, but they do not have the word of God available to them because they do not read it, they do not believe it, nor do they take action on what they claim to believe. They are like Israel under the thumb of their oppressor.

True initiative takes courage. It is not the flame-broiled emotional stuff cooked up by rabble- rousers who can get any bunch of perverts or blasphemers together for another `freedom march.´ It is the inner conviction that somebody has to do something about wickedness and it boils down to me. Will I be another Jonathan who went up with his sword, who had only his armor bearer with him, against the Philistines? This Jonathan routed the enemy by initiative. He took courage in his God, and he could no longer sit around while Israel was shamed by the heathen, shamed by the disbelief in their own camp.

Preaching the gospel takes such courage and such initiative. Before another ballot measure goes up to protect the rights of some social group, before another legislative committee gets together to make another law against hate speech, before another law goes into effect to shut down the gospel, I feel it is my right, my privilege and my duty to my Lord and Savior to proclaim Jesus Christ to the world.

What about you?

Chris Simonson - 8/14/2007

A History of Calvary Chapel:

Calvary Chapel began about 40 years ago. It started as an alternative Christianity for the dropped-out generation. Chuck Smith, its  founder, adopted the hippie "peace-truth-love" slogan for an upbeat Christian approach. He was trying to reach a generation that had been taught to love itself above all gods and religions; and he was going to reach them with love. They preached love - so did he. The love he preached was bigger and better than their love, and he set about to prove it with a gospel that was hip and cool. He, like a lot of people during the Jesus Movement, tried to incorporate the hippie message of "tune in, turn on, and drop out" into the message of Christ’s redemption. His gospel was tailored to the tastes of that time: Let it all hang out. And of course they stressed the Beatles’ mantra: "All you need is love."

They passed out tracts with the character "Ben Born Again," sported T-shirts that said "Everything goes better with Jesus" and repeated phrases like, "Truckin’ with Jesus."

Somehow, the Calvary Chapel gospel catapulted into mainstream Christianity. Part of it had to do with the fact that as the hippies grew older, they became the older generation. They became schoolteachers and pastors. But mostly, it was because of their gospel. They presented Christ as a "fix-it" for the problems of this generation. In other words, they preached a social gospel. Unlike many social gospels, their gospel stressed the end of the world. This may seem like a contradiction for a gospel that’s trying to change the world, but due to Dispensationalist theory, this make-over of the earth takes place during the Millennium. Before that, the world was going to go through some heavy stuff called the Tribulation, and the only way out was to get raptured. The Calvary Chapel gospel consisted (and still does) of how to avoid the Tribulation by believing in Jesus. Instead of presenting the gospel as a means of escaping eternal judgment of God on judgment day, they preached the rapture, a way of getting out of here before the turn of the century, by which surely the Tribulation would have started. After all, it had been two thousand years and they are Dispensationalists, you know. Please my article "Dispensationalism in a Nutshell." The modern gospels, Calvary Chapel’s included, use catastrophe as a means of proselytizing, promising the proselytized a grand view from ringside seats, close to but removed from the action.

According to the Calvary Chapel doctrine on the cross of Christ, one must bear one’s cross as long as it is cool to do so. The "Keep on Truckin’" motif needed a little adjustment to make it Christian, so a cross was added. The dude, along with Ben Born Again, is smiling all the way (with a little perspiration). But even this was too painful, so the motif changed to a stylized dove in a nosedive, spiritually neutral. Could mean peace, could mean spirit-baptism, could mean anything. The cross of Christ became a happy thing, light-hearted, revamped for the surrogate generation. Our suffering in Christ is minimalized; Jesus is the only one who needs to suffer. He paid for our sins and we are healed. This doctrine came straight out of Pentecostalism, to which Chuck owes much of his theology. Our suffering is only a result of our own foolishness, which could be easily cured by attending Calvary Chapel concerts.

Chuck Smith could have not done this on his own. He credits God with everything, and this is what all good Christians are supposed to say. But in truth, he had to hire a guy named Lonnie to make it happen. Chuck found Lonnie Frisbee in the Haight-Ashbury district. That’s right, the heart and core of hippiedom San Francisco. This is where all the flowers in the hair and the homosexuals came out of. These were the drugged out, sexed out animals who were going to change society by releasing us from the oppressive morality of the right-wing churches. But there were converts among these people, Lonnie Frisbee being one of them. Chuck knew that Lonnie had an attractive message of love.

This is what Chuck Smith needed. Some new fire on the dying embers of washed-up Christianity. So he brought Lonnie to his church in Costa Mesa and the rest is history. Lonnie himself cannot be contacted because he died of AIDS. He was a "bisexual" according to the church. I think that means he was a fornicator and a homosexual, but those are words the church avoids. He evidently didn’t practice "safe sex," either, even after he helped form the Vineyard movement with John Wimber. Calvary Chapel, for its part, gives no credit to the late Frisbee.

But Lonnie did exist and did put Calvary Chapel on the map during his tenure from 1968 to 1971. In this short time, Calvary Chapel became a social phenomenon in Southern California. They had the music. They had the tracts. They had the hippie look. They were riding the crest of the Jesus People movement. They even take credit for starting it.

They preached their end-time scenarios. It was almost inconceivable that the 21^st Century would be reached before the Tribulation started (with the easy-does-it church raptured out first). The music stressed a lot of love and a lot of rapture. That’s also when Hal Lindsey’s Late Great Planet Earth hit the book stands. The word Millennium has a special effect on Dispensationalists, and it was used effectively to sell the new religion of "God loves you and you don’t have to go through the Tribulation," or "God loves you and you can live a thousand years here on this earth (after you have been raptured to heaven then come back to eat vegetarian pizza and drive pollution-free Toyotas)."

This has resulted in several embarrassments, not the least of which is this is now 2004, but the Secret Rapture holds sway nonetheless. The so-called Jesus Movement dwindled into faded memory like other ’60's graffiti, but the Dispensational doctrines were now carved in stone. Many groups were lost, like Shiloh Ministries, and others formed, like the Vineyard (after he was forced to leave Calvary, Lonnie found John Wimber amenable to his Pentecostalism), but the rapture remained the central theme of modern Christianity. To Chuck Smith’s credit, he strategized and found it necessary to tone down the end-of-the-world stuff. He needed to recover his reputation after he found he had been duped into promulgating the hoax that Griffon Vultures were laying seven eggs instead of one, anticipating the coming feast at Armageddon. (True Bizarre Griffon Vulture News: They remain an endangered species along with other vultures, and the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo is trying to raise them and reintroduce them into the wild. In 1998, the Zoo discovered a pair of their "mating" vultures were actually homosexual males. They wondered if the loving couple would raise a chick and they did. This seems in keeping with the present direction of the world. As of 2001, the couple "divorced" and went on to form heterosexual relationships with the females, so the homosexuals out there who love to tout this sort of behavior in nature judge themselves as remaining perverted).

Over the years, the Calvary Chapels have become the new establishment. They are more concerned about the day to day affairs of this life than our eternal hope. They stress Sunday school for children, ministries for women, and retreats for men. Like other denominations, Calvary does not like their members to disagree with their pet theories, especially the rapture. But its main doctrinal weakness is the avoidance of preaching the judgment of God. This results in a rank antinomianism in their ranks, in keeping with the rest of the church. They frown on any use of the Law to convict sinners of their ungodly ways. They are strong believers in the once-saved-always-saved doctrine, to the point where they will condemn anyone who questions another’s faith based on their evil works. They do not practice shunning, unless it is against critics, in which case you are dead to them.

They own a castle in Austria, which suits their other Disneyland aspirations.

That leaves about 30 years of Calvary Chapel history untold. I have several personal stories I could tell, but they are about shallowness, covetousness and adultery. Chuck Smith, who likes to praise himself as non-judgmental, tolerant and loving, is an otherwise decent preacher who limits himself to one-half of the gospel. Dave Hunt frequents his churches. Dave preaches hard against psychology and new age philosophy, both of which have infected Calvary Chapel from the beginning. Dave does pretty good, except that he is consumed with the Pre-Tribulation rapture (which is why Calvary lets him teach) and incensed against Calvinists (which is why I don’t buy into a lot of his theology). Bob Hoekstra is their best preacher. There is much more to tell, of course. This somewhat distorted history of Calvary Chapel merely focuses upon the modern church’s disregard for personal holiness and the fear of God, which I hope has offended the evil and encouraged the good.

The following is not history, but it really is...

The pastor of the Calvary Chapel I used to attend has said this about me: "That’s your problem: You always look at the faults in others instead of your own. You always look at the negative and not the positive. You need to take care of your own problems and leave it up to the Holy Spirit to take care of theirs." This is nothing less than worldly psychology and hypocritical to boot (he was trying to modify my behavior, having seen my fault, which was pointing out his fault).

My Bible says to deal with the faults of others. If they are brothers, we are to bring it to their attention and forgive them if they repent. If they are false prophets, we are to judge them by their fruit, not by outward appearances. Even a casual reading of the New Testament will show how to do this. The enemy hides behind a veil of "non-judgmental, tolerant and loving" appearances, all the while leading his victims down a path of disregard for the holiness of God, without which no one will see God. Casual Chapel and others like them have the charm of Disneyland about them. But our gospel says, "Love not the world, neither the things of the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." Millennium or no.

Chris Simonson - 8/10/2007

Study: Colossians 3:1-3

Seek those things that are above, Colossians 3:1

If we have been resurrected with Christ (not our bodies - this is yet to come), then we should look up. Once again, most people don’t understand Paul here. Seeking the things above seems symbolic to them. They are ‘literalists’ and do not know the power of the Scriptures, especially those pertaining to Christ’s beloved church. But we, who know our Beloved and he us, seek after him much as the spouse does her husband in The Song of Solomon. We look up to him. We find spiritual riches there, not a list of touch not, taste not, handle not. There are things above that are readily available to us by faith. If we have risen with Christ, let us seek those things that are above.

Where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Colossians 3:1

This is the Christ of the Bible, not some earthly caricature of him. We do not see him, but we love him and follow after him. This is because we know he is the Son of the Father. We believe that God made all things by the Son. We believe that Jesus is the very image of the Father and the brightness of the Father’s glory (Hebrews 1:2,3). We believe there is none else. We believe that this Son by himself purged our sins. And because of this, he overcame for us and sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. This is our inheritance. “To him who overcomes will I grant to sit with me on my throne, even as I also overcame and am sat down with my Father in his throne” (Rev. 3:21). Why look elsewhere but up?

Set your affections on things above, Colossians 3:2

How can we set our fleshly desires, our longing for pleasure and comfort, on things above? We can’t. This does not stop people from trying. Their efforts are futile. What Paul means is that, if we have been risen with Christ and have the life of Christ in us, then we can and should set our affections on things above. Jesus knew how to do this, seeing as he created us in the first place. He said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” He was talking about laying up treasure in heaven. Most people will set their affections on other things and cannot understand why they cannot reverse the admonition to read, “Where your heart is, there will your treasure be also,” pretending affection for Christ. If we misquote him to justify our fleshly comforts, we show him no affection.

Not on things of the earth. Colossians 3:2

We would think if we are told to set our affections on things above that we would automatically understand not to set our affections on earthly things. But our tendency, as earthly creatures, is to desire the things of this world. But we have a much greater treasure in heaven, if we seek it. In order to have the one, we must forsake the other. Jesus said, “You cannot serve both God and the riches of this world. You will come to love the one and hate the other.” John said, “Love not the world, neither the things of the world.” In our journey to heaven, we must be continually reminded that our walk is by faith, not by sight. If we look around us and begin to set our desires on things contrary to faith, we will not obtain that for which we have hoped. If we have a new life in Christ, let us not trust in the old one.

For ye are dead, Colossians 3:3

This is perhaps my favorite word of faith in the Bible. The very shortness and finality of it assures me I am dead. It is a wonderful thing to be dead and know it. Dead to my own evil desires and dead to the world. The dear cross of Christ by which I am crucified to the world and the world to me. In the very midst of my troubles, when the world and its evil ways seem to be choking me, entangling me with the cares of this life, I can put my trust in Jesus Christ, for its true that I am dead. How can anyone have claims on a dead man? How can the Law of Moses itself have any power against me? I am a dead man. I have died, not alone, but I have been crucified with the beloved Savior of my soul, my Lord and my God, who was also resurrected. This is why I am also risen with him into newness of life.

And your life is hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:3

A wonderful, spiritual reality. It cannot be proven to the carnal mind that my life is hidden with Christ, or that God is hidden in Christ. But because I am dead, it is true. Because this life is hidden does not mean it has no effect in the seen world. Although our earthly bodies have not been changed, the glory of Christ’s life in us can be manifested. And because our life is hidden with Christ, no man understands how this can be (John 3:8). But we have this treasure in earthen vessels so that the glory we manifest is clearly not our own, but Christ’s (2 Cor. 4:7). And because our life is hidden, no man can rob us of that life (Psalm 91). “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” Matthew 13:44. “It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened” Luke 13:21. “But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price” 1 Peter 3:4, speaking of woman’s service to God.

When Christ, whom is our life

It is true that in a general sense all men, even the wicked, owe their lives to Christ. It is not the devil who keeps them alive! It is not their flesh that makes the sun rise and set one more time on their vain lives. It is not their free will that makes the rain to fall. They do not even have power to retain their spirit (life, breath, Eccl. 8:8). It is only the mercy of God that allows them to experience a few years of light before they go into eternal darkness (John 12:35). Jesus is the Life, the light that lights every man who comes into this world (John1:4,9). But more particularly, we who have died in Christ, have Eternal Life. We, being dead, nevertheless live. As the Spirit of Life lifted Jesus from the dead, so also does that same Life keep us alive even though we are dead (Romans 8:10). Most people who think they know Christ as Lord do not have him as their life. This is because of unbelief. But those of us who believe know that our life is not our own, because we traded our old life in at the cross. This is the hope of glory (Col. 1:27).

Chris Simonson - 8/09/2007

Bible Study VS Entertainment

Bible study is important, at least as important as a TV commercial.

Have you ever watched a movie? It usually lasts about 2 hours. You don’t get up and turn it off every 15 minutes, do you? Even if you leave the room or the theatre, you come back as soon as possible to get back into the story. You don’t go off for a week at a time and then start the movie back where you left off, do you? If you did, you would probably lose track of the plot and would not "get it." But this is the way most people study their Bibles, and they really don’t do anything but sit there in the sanctuary listening to Greek meanings and anecdotes while the pastor assures them he is teaching them the Bible. The main reason you don’t study the Bible is because you like being entertained.

Reading the Bible is not very entertaining, in the sense just spoken. However, if we neglect it by not applying ourselves to study it, we are going to lose track of the plot. It’s about eternal life, and very few "get it." How do we expect to receive anything from God if we don’t care about it ourselves? It’s hard to sacrifice those 2 hours we could be watching a movie for Bible study and prayer. That’s why we are so calloused in our love. It is cold. Our faith, dependent upon hearing the word of Christ, is moldy or just a memory.

For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Hebrews 2:1-3.

Chris Simonson - 8/07/2007

I Believe, Therefore Have I Spoken

Many people whom consider themselves Christians cannot articulate their beliefs. If questioned about even rudimentary doctrines, for instance, "Why does God choose some for salvation and not others?", they balk, or worse, spout out things that are in some book other than the Bible. They cannot present, in well-defined terms, their faith. They smile and say, "I just know that I'm saved and that's all I need to know." Or, "Jesus loves me just the way I am", etc.

We have all heard these things because we go to church and hear them. We say these things to each other because this is acceptable behavior among parishioners. But do we obey Christ when we do these things?

That should be our only concern. What men say behind our backs (or to our face), things like "He is parading his faith around, shoving it down others' throats, being a Bible-beater, a holier-than-thou...", shouldn't concern us. But it does. We are made of flesh. That is why we have to fight against this, or we will eventually join their ranks, the ranks of those to whom Christ says, "He who is ashamed of me and my words, of him will I be ashamed..."

Let us not be ashamed of Christ and his words. If we are ashamed of one, we will be ashamed of both. There is no such thing as a silent witness, unless it is the woman's role under an unbelieving husband. But even then, as the occasion arises, the woman must share her faith with others, especially when they see her godly behavior and ask, Why the hope? The sophists will come up with arguments of "what ifs" to avoid the plain teaching of Christ on this subject, but then, these theologians want nothing to do with the gospel anyway.

Therefore, dear Christian, does the scripture, "I have believed, therefore have I spoken" apply to you? If our love for Christ does not ignite a passion to share the whole story of redemption with our fellow believers as well as the lost, perhaps we have lost our savor.

A word to the sisters: Explaining the story of redemption includes all aspects of the Bible teachings, such as Proverbs, which instructs us in a fatherly way. Remember that God has appointed to you your proper gift of being a woman. The women's lib movement has tried to destroy this and it has filled the church. But we should not ignore reality. You are not to assume the role of a man. In obedience to love, you should teach morality and ethics to women and children, but you are not to teach a man nor usurp authority over him, no matter what your opinion of him may be. Once you have settled this in your heart, you will have no problem presenting the gospel to a man without teaching him. You will be submitting to him in the fear of God. It's too bad the pastors won't teach the men in their congregations to reject the spirit that goes along with women usurping the role of the man in their own households. But the spirit of the age has destroyed even that foundation in the family, under the guise of focusing on the family.

So, let us all praise our God by speaking forth the wonderful story of salvation, in as many ways as possible, as opportunity presents itself. Let us not be ashamed of Jesus or his words. As we have believed, let us therefore speak.

Chris Simonson - 8/06/2007

Faith  VS. Works, or  Paul VS. James

This is not an easy subject. Martin Luther, a man for whom I have deep respect, struggled with the book of James and called it an "epistle of straw." He probably felt this because the Church of Rome beat him over the head with it, and he wanted to make sure everyone knew that a straw nightstick was not to be included with the sword of the gospel according to Paul. That portion of James which brings disputes is James 2:14-26. The most dangerous verse in that passage is probably verse 24 which says, "You see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only." This seems to be in direct contrast to Romans 3:28, where Paul says, "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law."

Luther had quite a time with the hypocrites of the church, who placed men in bondage whenever and wherever they could. Then as now, we are taught by one set of hypocrites that as long as you "have Jesus in your heart," it doesn’t matter what kind of life you lead. The other set says that you have to have Jesus in your heart, money in your hand, works out of your free will, and a lot of graces from Mary/ the church/ pope/ pastor/ psychiatrist, all of whom help you practice of good works in order to be saved, or at least closer to Jesus. We as true Christians know that having Jesus in one’s heart is a matter of faith, and without faith, we cannot please God. We also know that faith without works is dead, however.

Two sets of hypocrites: The licentious and the legalistic. Funny thing is: Many people fly from one set of hypocrisy to the other unremittingly, heaping up judgment to themselves. This compares with Ro. Chapter 2, where Jews and Gentiles alike find themselves judging matters and condemning others, all the while condemning themselves before God. They excuse themselves, and when their conscience can stand it no longer, they accuse themselves. This is where the priests and the psychologists make their money. The tortured soul seeks relief from guilt and settles for absolution by the agency of man. This is called the deeds of the law. Paul says that no one can be justified by the deeds of the law: "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." Galatians 2:16.

The Roman Catholic Church makes a lot of money off people by selling indulgences, ecclesiastical positions and anything else they can get away with. They cloak all of this behind a veil of fair speeches that appear to support love for Jesus, but we should look past the flattering voice and to the fruit of the tree. If the fruit is strife, envy, murder, sexual immorality, thievery, idolatry...then we don’t have to buy into the fair speeches of the adulterated gospel. Our flesh only too gladly falls prey to such flattery. If we give into the false gospels, we are like the foolish man who went after the adulteress in Proverbs. We end up trying to pit faith against works, instead of coming to the basic realization that we are saved by faith and judged by works.

One may find conflict between the book of James and the book of Galatians, as did Luther (I have read where in his later years he finally admitted some usefulness to James). But I say they are extremely similar and deal with the same subject: Faith in God vs false religion. It may be true that Paul is dealing with a different bunch of deceivers than James, but they both agree that correct living before God is of utmost importance. Paul deals with Judaism, James deals with ambivalence, but both are fighting against false religion. If we read in James about the law of liberty (James 1:25), then we can be assured this is exactly what Paul is talking about in Galatians 2:4, 5:1 and 13. But our minds, when hardened from sin, do not take this in readily. That’s why we must pay closer attention to the doctrine of grace through faith, or we will be easily deceived.

James says "Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves;" Paul says, "For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law will be justified" (Rom. 2:13). There is complete agreement that one must do something besides hear airwaves in order to be saved. Didn’t Jesus himself say that at the end of the Sermon on the Mount? (Matt. 7:24;27). Our capacity to deceive ourselves on this issue is immense, and that is why most people are going to destruction. We justify ourselves, but not before God (Rom. 4:2). That is why the whole issue of faith vs. works is confusing to most people. Our minds are corrupted by sin, and we feel we know what Paul or James is talking about, but our minds are unfruitful if we do not have the light. The light comes by faith in Jesus Christ, and faith in Him alone, before and apart from any works we have done. This faith is brought about by hearing the word of truth, and hearing it correctly. Only God can do this. That is why it is so important to humble ourselves before Him.

Both Paul and James knew this. James comes from a point of view that takes man on from his carnal side; Paul speaks of the Spirit. When we read James, we are reading the almost proverbial teachings of a man who knows human nature and knows how to address the failings of the flesh. We do not read in James’ epistle about the Spirit of God. This is not the issue in this letter. It is the spirit of man he addresses (James 2:26 and 4:5). In Galatians, Paul is speaking about the Spirit of God versus the works of the law. He deals with a promise to a man versus a performance from a man. But he and James come to the same conclusion: Faith without works is dead. "Do not be deceived," Paul says, "God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life" (Galatians 6:7,8). 

As a matter of fact, Paul is quite bold when he says, "Let each one examine his own work, and then he will have boasting in himself and not in regard to another" (Galatians 6:4). But men deceive themselves and boast in things that are not theirs, and envy and strife are a result, not the faith that works by love. As James says, "For what you ought to say is, ‘If the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that,’ but instead you rejoice in your [selfish] boasts. All such boasting is evil. Therefore to him who knows to do good, yet does not do it, to him it is sin." James here is talking about the arrogance of the man who has faith in himself and his abilities, who plans his future around his self-ambition.

James also says this is demonic. "But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descends not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish." (James 3:14,15). Paul agrees and says, "But if you bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another...Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings... This is not different from Paul’s stress that a man cannot be justified by his attempts to satisfy the requirements of the Law. Paul ought to know: he was self-ambitious and had much zeal for his performance in the Law, until he met Christ.

Martin Luther and others have had a problem with James because it lacks the spiritual side of things. Usually, an apostolic epistle talks about our standing before God in Christ, of sin and righteousness and the judgment to come, so that the brethren are encouraged to take hold of eternal, mystical, truths. Then comes the practical application. In James, it is not so. He sounds more Old Testament in his delivery. He does not hardly mention our relationship to the Father through Christ, he says nothing about the Holy Spirit, and yet his epistle has pointed messages for the church. His delivery throughout the epistle is a practical application of well-known doctrine, using specific examples, by exhortation. Luther saw this as legalistic. James sounds like a series of commands, but it is a perfect blend of mystical truth with down-to-earth application. He starts by saying "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trails, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance."

When we read in James that a man is justified by works, we cannot rightly say he is talking about the works of the law. This is an important distinction. But what works, then, is James talking about? He discusses that Abraham was justified by works when he offered his only son on the altar. That is certainly not in the Law of Moses! The other example he uses is the occasion when Rahab the harlot delivered the Israelite spies out of the hands of her own people. We are not talking law here, are we? A harlot, a non-Israelite, a sinner of the Gentiles, does nothing more than help her enemies by lying to her own kindred and helping the enemy escape, and this is justification? Yes, according to James, this is justification. According to Hebrews chapter 11, this is faith.

Paul in Galatians continuously refers to the law, and the deeds of the law. But that is because he is addressing Judaism in particular, and legalism in general. Paul is not railing against the law, but he is vehement against justification by trying to keep it. This is quite unlike James’ approach, where he discusses justification as substantial evidence of faith. Paul is not thinking along this line. He is developing a doctrine of justification from the law. To the unlearned, this may seem like hair-splitting, but further investigation into the principles of justification by faith will show that these two approaches using the same words, are vastly different from one another. And yet, the two authors have the same thing in mind, as I have said before, that is, faith in God versus false religion.

James had the same problem with the church that we do today. There are many in the church who profess to know God, but they have no works. We assure them that they are saved no matter what, because they did something once, like had an emotional encounter with God in which they felt their soul’s peril, or they felt God’s love, or many other things. They did something in response. They came forward, they said the sinner’s prayer, they lifted their hand while every head was bowed and every eye was closed, etc. But their faith was not lasting, because in time of temptation they fell away, or as time passed they became hardened by giving in to various sins: by letting the cares of this present world come before the searching out of the kingdom from above. It really doesn’t matter if we say they were saved and lost their salvation, or were never really saved at all: They knew the way of righteousness, they had joy, they knew the way of peace, they knew the Way to the Father, and they rejected it. This is not faith, but disbelief. Their works show their disbelief. The proof of their disbelief is that they seek after the things of this world and not the things of God.

James sees this and approaches the subject from a human point of view, and there is nothing wrong with this. Paul did this himself (Galatians 3:15, Romans 3:5). A man may tell us he is saved, we cannot see his heart, but can we tell? We may tell others we are saved, but can they tell? For James it is important that we can tell. For Paul it is important that we can tell. Paul goes to some length pointing out the difference between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5). He tells us not to deceive ourselves about it: "If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself" Galatians 6:3. 

James says, "If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless." James does not buy into claims of faith apart from works. If a man says he has faith, James says back it up. As a matter of fact, it is better to refrain from saying you have faith, but let the works speak for you (James 2:18). Jesus, when challenged by the Pharisees about the invalidity of his own testimony, said, "If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him." John 10:37,38.

While we’re on John, let us read more about works. "Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments. John 14:11-15. The subject is faith, but the object is works.

Paul, from his viewpoint of the Spirit, says, "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." He says, "For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor no circumcision means anything, but faith working through love" (Galatians 5). Faith means something. It works through love. A meaningless faith is like the faith the demons have. They believe in God and tremble, but they are incapable of faith that saves. They can only do evil. A large number of men fall into this category, also. Paul says, "...I forewarn you just as I have warned you before, those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God" Galatians 5:21.

This sort of preaching flies in the face of the modern churches who proclaim to know Jesus and yet practice their lawlessness. They pretend love and speak much of faith and love, but their works testify against them. James warns about this kind of faith and love. It is a faith without works and it is a love that is based on lust and envy. He calls it being "double-minded" and indeed, those who pretend are always double-minded. For instance, these who love darkness and deceit will tell you not to judge them when you ask them about works. In fact, they are the ones who are judging contrary to the law of God, judging the servants of God and judging the law itself. They speak evil against the brethren who preach the gospel, saying that these are unqualified because they have a beam in their own eye. They can judge very well, it seems, when it comes to noticing beams in others’ eyes while they have none in their own. It is they whom James warns: "Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge only...who are you to judge your neighbor?"

The double-minded read this and assume they are justified by their belief system that requires no works. They presume that James is saying we cannot judge whether a work really exists, or whether it is a good work. But this goes against everything else he has been saying about vain religion. He is warning these very brethren not to be hypocrites. They speak evil of the law of God. They don’t necessarily say, "We think the law of God is evil" (some do, actually), but they judge it. They use it to judge others and not themselves. They condemn the others when they don’t like something about them, and find their justification for it in the law. But then they turn around and praise Jesus with their lips, having condemned the brother who warned them: "Faith without works is dead." Bitter water and sweet from the same well? We think not (James 3:11).

There are many parallels between Galatians and James, notwithstanding a difference in approach. When Paul says, "And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary" (Galatians 6:9), this is the same as James when he says, "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial: for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him...Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord." Our faith is going through many tests, but our outcome is favorable if we continue to do good. If we give up, go into legalism a la Roman Catholicism, the Orthodox Church, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons and others, then we have fallen from grace, Christ is of no avail to us. But our good must proceed from another source, and that is what the gospel is all about: Our freedom in Christ.

We know that Luther was fighting against the teachings and dominion of the Roman Catholic Church. They had their system of laws, by which if a man do, he shall be rewarded with eternal life. Otherwise, they had power over men’s lives to torture and destroy them. If it seems at times that Luther goes a little overboard with his reaction to the smooth sophistry of the "schoolmen," as he calls the doctors of Roman Catholicism, it is because of his vehemence against evil masquerading as good. The Catholics and all her daughters are out there, still pretending great love for Christ and still enslaving men’s souls under bondage of law-keeping.

We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works, and yet we maintain that we will be judged by our works. This seems like a conflict only to those whose hearts have been hardened by sin and are not willing to deal with it. May the book of James rattle these out of their slumber. May the book of Galatians keep them from the snare of Catholicism, Judaism, Mohammedanism, Mormonism and other forms of legalism.

In closing, it would be well to quote Martin Luther from his Commentary on Galatians: "In reading the Scriptures we must learn to put a difference between the true and the hypocritical, the moral versus the spiritual doing of law. By doing so, we will be able to understand the true meaning of those places that seem to maintain the righteousness of works. The true doing of the law is a faith and spiritual thing, which those who seek righteousness by works cannot do. Therefore, every such doer of the law is accursed. For he walks in the presumption of his own righteousness before God, while seeking to be justified by man’s free will and reason; in this doing of the law, he does it not. And this, according to Paul, is to be under the works of the law, that is to say, that hypocrites do the law, and yet in doing it, they do it not...

"It is a hard and a dangerous matter to teach that we are made righteous by faith without works, and yet to require works. Here unless the ministers of Christ are faithful and wise disposers of the mysteries of God, rightly dividing the Word of truth, faith and works are soon confounded. Both these doctrines, faith as well as works, must be diligently taught and urged, and yet so that both remain within their bounds...

"Although Paul speaks plainly enough, yet he is still misunderstood, for the schoolmen argue, ‘If love is the fulfilling of the law, it follows then that love is righteousness: therefore, if we love, we are righteous.’ These men argue from the Word to the work thusly: The law has commanded love; therefore, the work of love follows naturally. But this is a foolish a consequence, to draw an argument from precepts...

"True it is that we ought to fulfill the law, but sin hinders us. Indeed, the law prescribes and commands that we should love God with all our heart, and that we should love our neighbor as ourselves; but there is not one man to be found upon the whole earth who so loves God and his neighbor as the law requires....

"It is a great error therefore to attribute justification to love, which cannot pacify God: for love even in the faithful is imperfect and impure. But no unclean thing shall enter into the kingdom of God" (Ephesians 5:5). In the meanwhile, this confidence sustains us, that Christ, who alone committed no sin, and in whose mouth was never found any guile, overshadows us with His righteousness (1 Peter 2:22). Being covered with this cloud, we begin to love and to fulfill the law. Yet for this fulfilling we are not justified or accepted by God while we live there. But when Christ has delivered up the kingdom to God His Father, and abolished all principality, and God shall be all in all, then shall faith and hope cease, and love shall be perfect and everlasting (1 Corinthians 13). This thing the schoolmen understand not; therefore, when they hear that love is the sum of the whole law, they infer: the law justifies, but that is not the meaning of Paul.

"If we were pure from all sin, and inflamed with perfect love towards God and our neighbor, then should we indeed be righteous and holy through love, and God could require no more of us...

"But now man’s nature is so corrupt and drowned in sin that it cannot have any right sense of God. It loves not God, but hates Him. Wherefore, as John says: ‘We loved not God, but He loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins’ (1 John 4:10)...We , being redeemed and justified by this Son, begin to love...

"So Paul shows by these words: ‘Walk in the Spirit,’ how he would have that verse to be understood where he said: ‘Serve ye one another though love,’ and again: ‘Love is the fulfilling of the law.’ As if he should say: When I bid you love one another, this is what I required of you, that you walk in the Spirit. For I know that you shall not fulfil the law, because sin dwells in you as long as you live; therefore, it is impossible that you should fulfill the law. In the meanwhile, walk in the Spirit, that is, wrestle in the Spirit against the flesh...

"As if he should say, I write to you that you should love one another. If you had perfect charity, no adversity could be so great, which should be able to hurt and hinder that charity. There would be no wife, were she ever so ugly, whom her husband would not love entirely, loathing all other women, though they were ever so fair and beautiful. But this is not done, therefore it is impossible for you to be made righteous through love...

"But this must be our ground and anchor-hold, that Christ is our perfect righteousness...we must always believe and always hope; we must always take hold of Christ as the head and fountain of our righteousness...Moreover, we must labor to be outwardly righteous also, that is to say, not to consent to the flesh, which always entices us to some evil, but to resist it by the Spirit...

"For the believer assures himself by faith that his sin is forgiven him, since Christ has given Himself for it. Therefore, although he has sin in him and daily sins, yet he continues godly; but contrariwise, the unbeliever continues wicked. And this is the true wisdom and consolation of the godly, that although they have and commit sins, yet they know that for Christ’s sake they are not imputed unto them.

"This I say for the comfort of the godly. For they feel they do not love God so fervently as they should do, that they do not trust Him so heartily as they would, but rather they oftentimes doubt whether God has a care for them or not; they are impatient, and are angry with God in adversity. Hereof proceed the sorrowful complaints of the saints in the Scriptures, and especially in the Psalms...

"Paul teaches the same things Christ taught, that works and fruit sufficiently testify whether the trees be good or evil, whether men follow the guiding of the flesh or of the Spirit. As if he should say: Lest some of you might say for himself, that he understands me not now when I deal with the battle between the flesh and the Spirit, I will set before your eyes first the works of the flesh, and then also the fruit of the Spirit.

"And this Paul does because there were many hypocrites among the Galatians (as there are also at this day among us), who outwardly pretend to be godly men, and boasted much of the Spirit, but they walked not according to the Spirit, but according to the flesh. So Paul tells them that they aren’t what they boasted themselves to be. And lest they should despise this admonition, he pronounces against them this dreadful sentence, that they should not be inheritors of the kingdom of heaven...

"It is very profitable therefore for the godly to feel the uncleanness of their flesh, lest they should be puffed up with some vain opinion of the righteousness of their own works, as though they were accepted before God for the same. This feeling humbles them, that they are constrained to fly unto Christ their mercy-seat. In Him they find a sound and perfect righteousness. Thus they continue in humility because of the uncleanness which yet remains in their flesh, for which if God would judge them, they should be found guilty of eternal death. But because they lift not up themselves proudly against God, they come forth into the Presence of God, and pray that for His sake their sins may be forgiven them; God spreads over them an infinite heaven of grace, and does not impute to them their sins, for Christ’s sake."

Quotes from the English edition copyrighted by Fleming H. Revell, which grants an exception for "brief quotations in printed reviews." I’ll let the schoolmen judge what that means.

Chris Simonson - 8/03/2007

Church Authority

Church Authority usually means that you must submit to the authority of the church in order to belong to the church. What does Paul, the founder of the Gentile churches, say?

"... and I submitted to them..."

This phrase occurs in the letter to the Galatians, written by the Apostle Paul over 1900 years ago. He was relating his visit to the Church in Jerusalem and his interaction with the authorities there. The letter to the Galatian church was written because Paul was concerned that the Church in Galatia was going after a false gospel. Some of their church authorities had decided to adopt Judaism as a furtherance of Paul’s gospel. It seems that the church had willingly gone along with this, causing Paul no small consternation. He boldly tells them that such promulgators of a false gospel should be rejected as accursed of God.

Whose authority are they under, anyway? Paul asks. He says that even if he, Paul, were to present a different gospel than the one he had already preached to them, that he himself should be included on the "accursed of God" list. The letter to the Galatians is all about church authority and to whom it is given and how. That is why, in this letter, Paul tells us about his visit to Jerusalem. The purpose of that visit was to settle the matter of church authority and its relationship to the gospel. He met with the "so-called pillars of the church," James, John and Cephas (St. Peter). He was not sure how he would be received by them.

He knew there were many in the church at Jerusalem who were in fact false brethren sent by the devil to search out and destroy the freedom of the true brethren. The church there, even though the original apostles were present and supposedly ruling over the church, had their problems just like the Galatians. Paul evidently had a run-in with the false brethren while he was there. Of these false brethren and their false authority Paul says, "we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so the truth of the gospel might remain with you" Galatians 2:5. He did not submit to them because there was something very important at stake: the gospel.

So he met privately with those of "high reputation" (but it made no difference to Paul - God shows no favoritism, why should he? Besides, they were not superior to Paul and they had nothing new to contribute to him - Galatians 2:6). Instead of flaunting their church authority, or getting into a "one-upmanship" contest, the "pillars of the church" recognized that Paul had authority too, and "gave him the right hand of fellowship." This meant that they were not lording it over him, but giving him their blessing in the fellowship of the gospel (by the way, is there another kind of fellowship in the Spirit?). So, Peter, James and John became friends of Paul and sharers in the work of the Lord.

So, to whom did Paul submit? We opened this study with the phrase, "...and I submitted to them..." This comes from Galatians 2:2. In context, we see that he did not submit to them as lords over his faith, but he submitted to them his gospel for their review, and hopefully, approval. He wanted to make sure they were all on the same side. It was only after he had determined that the other apostles and leaders were on the same page with him, did he accept their authority, and they accepted his. But there is more to the story about his relations with Peter.

"But when Cephas [St. Peter] came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned," says Paul. These are strong words. Paul, the apostle born out of due time, rebukes Peter, and that publicly and without apology. One should really read Galatians to listen to the message preached to Peter. Church authority, which Paul exercised, gave him the right to expose wickedness in any form and whether it was the pope himself. Of course, we do not believe that Cephas was or is the first pope, because that is a Roman Catholic tradition and not the truth. It is an early church tradition, but it is a lie nonetheless.

Well, this run-in with Peter happened at least 1,900 years ago. Since then, the churches have been vying for authority, just the same as they did then. The biggest and earliest church is the Roman Catholic church. The Orthodox Church would heartily disagree. Bearing this in mind, the Catholic Church wasn’t the Roman Catholic church until Rome made it the official Rome religion, but the error had its origins in the very early church indeed. It, the so-called "catholic" church, assumed that the authority it had over men’s souls could usurp the authority of God Himself. But we have Paul’s word on it: "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery" Galatians 5:1. Then, as now, the freedom under fire was the believer’s direct faith in Jesus Christ and not in a system of laws written by the Jews or the Gentile church, or an angel of light.

Since the early days of the church, Judaism has lost most of its stranglehold on the church. But this was replaced by the Greek philosophers, the Hindu and Buddhist concepts of love, the shamanism of Africa and America, and any other Gentile tradition fancied by local sentiment and current fad. These have taken over the believers’ freedom in Christ. The church should have used these traditions to contrast them with the gospel; instead, it substituted Gentile philosophy for Jewish law. This they touted as their authority, and everyone who did not come under their authority was anathema, or at least ostracized. In a weird twist of irony, those who were anathematized (cursed) by Paul, became the authorities in many of the Christian churches and movements.

We must remember that God is not up in heaven watching this all take place, worrying Himself sick. This is all unfolding according to the perfect will and purpose of Him who decrees the very borders of countries. If we read our Bibles carefully and reverently, we see that false authorities are warned against, from Genesis to Revelation.

Church authority consists of one thing only: "The power of the message preached." The devil hates this message and this authority. That is why he has come up with so many other gospels and their attendant "authority." We can spot some of these false authorities easily. These false authorities love the power and they belittle others, even the true authorities. As the apostle John wrote more than 1,900 years ago, "I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say." Even in the very first days of the church, false authorities were setting themselves up against John, Paul, Peter and others. If the church authority in question does not accept what John has to say, or Peter, or Paul, etc., then we can know their authority, however powerful it is, is not to be obeyed or feared. Our faith, in many cases, is tested by these principalities and powers in high places. This is God’s plan for the believers. He wants them to live by faith, not by church laws. If the church law is good, then obey it. But don’t think to yourself that by obeying these church laws that you have fulfilled the saying, "the just shall live by his faith."

Respect those who have the rule over you. If God has appointed them to be your jailers, then treat them as having that authority. If he has appointed them as the IRS, give them their due. This carries over into all areas of our life. If we do not recognize the authorities whom God has put over us, then those authorities do not bear the sword in vain. We need a ticket, or a court date, or some prison time to convince us. But when it comes to the church ruling over men’s souls, we have found that for the last two thousand years there have been continual abuses. Paul rebuked them: We should, too. Many churches today feel they are the superior evolutionary product of the last two thousand years of trial and error. They believe their gospels are superior to Paul’s. They are better than Martin Luther. They are children of the 60's who don’t know that their gospel comes from the hippie movement that proclaimed "Peace, truth, love" and fulfilled the scripture that says, "they will turn the grace of God into lasciviousness." This accounts for the great church authorities like the Episcopalians ordaining homosexuals over their hell-bound parishioners.

If we belong to a church that is plainly abusive and contrary to the Scriptures, we should leave. We should test them first, giving them the opportunity to repent. If the authorities there cannot justify themselves with the doctrine that is according to godliness, then no matter how powerful they are, we should pull away. This is to be released into the freedom we have in Christ. We should not jump out of the frying pan into the fire, however. If we are truly Christ’s, we will prayerfully submit to God our petition to find like-minded believers with whom to fellowship. The answer may not come instantly. We should be on the lookout for cultic principalities who prey on Christians just escaped from the pit.

Many times we hear of those who have fallen away from Christ. They left a church seeking freedom and found complete bondage under the devil. The false churches point and say that this will happen to anyone who leaves their grip. This is part of the manifold tactics of the enemy. But there is a remnant, called according to grace, chosen according to the Father, and no man can pluck them out of His hand. This is the true authority in Christ. When we submit to one another, we should be submitting under this kind of reverence for God. All other authority and all other submission is suspect, unless it has nothing whatsoever to do with the church. Then we should submit under the ordinances of the land, knowing that these authorities will surely use the sword against us, in accordance with God’s provision for our obedience.

Having said all that, it will do good to close with Scripture. "For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more" 1 Cor. 9:19.

Chris Simonson - 8/02/2007

I marvel at how generous the Christian church has been in helping the general unsaved populous during times of publicized, worldly crisis. hundreds of thousands of dollars have simply poured into Christian non-profits aiding the victims whom have been struck by "Acts of God", which has some good profit; however, do we have the same ambition to show love to our own Brethren & their families?

For example, if you could not pay your rent or mortgage this month, due to no direct fault of your own, and your landlord or bank was preparing to toss you out of your home, would there be the same ad campaign, as for the afore mentioned meteorologically-victimized, in your local church to help you? OR, would you receive the standard response of "We are not a bank", followed by the inevitable "go talk to so-an-so about the Food Closet Program and help yourself to some canned yams".

What is the problem here? We bend over backwards to throw money towards the lost, and yet we won't even help our Brethren in the Lord support their families. How can we claim to be unified in Christ, but have no love to supply basic necessities for our poorer Brethren?

The fact is that out of the millions of dollars of church revenue generally only 10% goes back out towards 'charitable purposes', but, according to most church admen that 10% is given fanfare as if heaven itself has poured down through their praying hands onto the less-fortunate and uneducated.

So, this week, when you determine to tithe your 10% allotment, why not take that money, find some poor brother struggling to pay his bills and quietly give to him, with no strings attached. As a result, you may find abundant blessing, being begrudged by your fellow church-attendees that this week you did not drop your tithe envelope into the Endeared Velveteen Pocket With mahogany-like Handles; instead you invested in the Kingdom and blessed a brother.   

Steven- 8/01/2007