Why the wrtings of men?... Part 5: Leading their souls to heaven

There has been much Scripture study at my house lately. This is often the case but I must admit that sometimes the studies come much harder and faster than others and sometimes they go much deeper. The last couple of weeks has been one of those times.

Thanks to me getting myself into what was supposed to be a Reformed group, my poor husband has been deep in thought on the believers that I had encounters with in that group. His mind has been whirling and he has spoken many times of the need to correct their erroneous thoughts and teachings, not so much to them but in our own hearts, minds, and ways, just to combat what is being said and done.

Sometimes it truly amazes me the ways some people manage to twist Scripture and the lengths they go to to justify what they are saying and doing. I realize many are blinded to the Truth and that only the Lord can open their eyes but it still amazes me.

In the last couple of weeks I have had two different women talk to me about their husbands and their 'salvation'. One of them told me how glad she is that her husband 'opened his heart to the Lord', the other told me how much she hopes her husband will 'open his heart to the Lord.' These are both professing Christian women and I honestly think they mean well. I truly believe they desire (what they consider to be) real salvation for their husbands. Their hearts cry out for it and they rejoice in it when it happens.

A couple of years ago I knew someone whose husband had supposedly been a 'Christian'. This man changed his beliefs at some point and denied Christ. His wife, who had once rejoiced in her husband's claim to Christianity, changed her rejoicing to sorrow. She prayed for his salvation and even got others involved to change his ways. This wife then, following an encounter with a preacher, once again rejoiced in her husband's 'Christianity'.

I truly believe that people embrace what they understand to be Scripture with everything in them. Whatever their beliefs are, however deep they go, those beliefs become a part of them. They are embraced and rejoiced in as being Truth.

These wives, at least the two in the last couple of weeks, are what my husband and I refer to as the Churchianitied. They have been taught a religion based off feel good Bible verses. They have been shown the 'truth' of Scripture by men who went to school to learn how to teach the Bible.

Just the other day I had a teenage relative express shock that people actually go to school to learn how to teach the Bible. It truly is that shocking. That...outraging. And it should be an outrage to every true called out, regenerated by God's hand, believer. It should be so outraging that we should find fault with every preacher, teacher, or leader that  any way says they gained the right to teach Scripture from any man made institution.

Years ago I read an article about homeschooling. That article spoke of all children in any sort of go-to-school situation as being institutionalized. And they are. It compared them to prisoners, hospital patients, and nursing home residents. Institutions have a way of changing the person attending the facility, no matter what it is, into what they want that person to be. Prisoners must conform to the rules and regulations of the prison. They must learn to see the guards and wardens as...dare I say, a god. These men and women rule over the inmates, saying when they can eat, when they can sleep. They even control the disbursing of toilet paper. They rule all and the inmates must confirm to the life they are locked into.

Nursing home residents do the same thing, often controlled by medications, always controlled by schedules. They often are so out of touch with life that they do not even know if it is day or night. They eat when they are told they should, sleep when told they should. Nurses, doctors, and attendants become their gods, ruling them, controlling their lives.

I have even heard it said that even the best intentioned doctors are no better. They go to medical schools, funded and controlled by pharmaceutical companies, learning what they are taught, accepting that everything they are told is in the best interest of the patient. They are institutionalized just as much as the prisoner and nursing home patient, only in a different kind of way. They come out of medical school and go into medical practice, worked beyond the point of exhaustion because that's what doctor training requires. And we blindly put our lives in their hands despite the fact that statistics show an alarming number of medical caused injuries and deaths.

And people blindly put their souls into the hands of preachers that have been instituionalized just as much as those poor kids in schools and inmates in prisons. They go to 'churches' in mass numbers, trusting men to lead their souls to heaven. They accept what they are told on blind faith, assuming if they see something different in Scripture that they aren't able to understand what they are reading, often seeking out their preacher or a designated teacher to help them understand what they are not grasping because they see something different then these institutionalized preachers are teaching them on Sundays.

They buy devotionals to lead them in Bible study when at home because they cannot understand Scripture. And their preachers encourage it. They give tithes to their 'church' because they are told the Bible commands it.

They follow blindly what they are told, entrusting their earthly lives and, worse, their very souls to their preachers because these men, and sometimes women, have been trained in the Bible and therefore know best. Or so they think.

I can't fault them because I was once one of them. I remember well how the game is played. And it is a game. You have the 'wardens', in the form of preachers, and the 'guards', in the form of teachers and other leaders. You have the high ranking 'inmates' and the low ranking ones. There are those that are highly valued to the 'church', much like the popular kids at school, and those that would hardly be missed if they don't show up at all. You have the ones that are honored and acknowledged among the group, they are the singers, the leaders, and the high paying...dare I liken them to slaves...that fill the coffer plate every week. And you have the peasants, the sponges, the dregs of 'society'. The ones that must be put up with. They don't give the proper amount of tithes, they may not meet with the standards of dress or income for the 'society' of the 'church'.

It is the 'wardens' place to give an acceptable, well thought out, sermon to the masses...inmates...members, call them what you will. The purpose is to tickle their ears and stir their emotions and thoughts just enough to make them feel like they learned something while encouraging them to 'walk the plank', so to speak, to come down and have someone of higher power pray over them, for them, with them, as if their personal prayers alone are not enough. They are shamed into 'giving' to 'God' by filling the plate that is passed among them. I remember what it feels like to have that plate in my hand, to pass it from person to person on either side of me. There is embarassment and shame in not putting something in the plate...yes, people watch to see who is contributing and who is not...and for at least some, there is excitement and a feeling of doing the right thing when you place your 'tithe' in the sacrificial 'offering' plate.

To top it all off there is almost always a tally somewhere. Each week there will be somewhere for members and attendees to look and see what was 'given' the week before. It might be on a board at the front of the 'sanctuary' or it might be in the program handed out for that days service. It might even be on a welcoming sign at the front door but it will be somewhere. It's a visible message to all who step onto that supposed 'holy' ground that 'God' must be paid and paid well.

The whole set up is a racket. A well thought out, well designed, institution for the unlearned, for the uninitiated, for the 'god seeking'. They are taken by the hand and led through 'Bible studies', fed pre-approved interpretations of what Scripture says and what 'God' expects.

Like I said, I cannot fault them. I was once one of them. I don't suppose I ever properly played the game because I was never a 'tither', never in the choir, only briefly a Sunday school teacher. I guess one might say I was a rebel in the midst, the bad kid of the bunch. Even when I was one of them, I questioned if what was being taught was really the way it was.

I am not against 'churches'. I actually hold them in something of a high regard. I am grateful to them. They do give the name of Christ, even if it is a mixed up, erroneous version of Him. I am living proof that one can grow up in 'church' and still be granted the Lord's Truth, proof that one can be called out from among them.

I am also extremely grateful to them because they do spread the name of Christ and also because they keep many an unregenerate, even reprobates, in check. They are taught that they are 'Christians' and that there are standards for being a 'Christian' so they stay within those boundaries. The Lord uses the 'church' as a restraining hand on many. Where would we be without 'churches'?

I am not against them as a whole. I think they serve their purpose and as my husband says about people cutting down forrests and rainforests...the Lord allows it.

But lately I have had too many encounters with too many people claiming to be regenerate, claiming to be able to see the Truth of Scripture, that have used and quoted the teachings of men. I have seen them place men's teachings and instructions, and interpretations above Scripture.

These self professed Reformed Christians are leading others to the books and writings of men before they lead them to Christ. They are aligning themselves with a man's philosophies before they align themselves to Christ, although they profess to be doing the opposite.

There is a Reformed preacher...probably many but it's one that I think of as I write this...that has a huge following. His 'church' is packed on Sunday's. His belief holds to the Truth although he justifies his peddling of Christ by using Scripture to show that what he is doing is the proper thing. He 'guides' his...dare I call them minions...followers into an 'understanding' that Scripture says his way of 'leading' is correct. The offering plate is passed and the 'sacrifices' made in the form of God mandatory 'tithes' which not only foot the bill for the high dollar 'holy' building they gather in but pays for the preachers fancy home and clothes.

He goes so far as to write books on his interpretation of Scripture and to even produce his own study Bibles complete with his notes to lead the followers into believing as he does.

It's not all bad but it isn't all good either.

Baby believers need a hand to hold as they take those first tottering steps. They need someone to help point them to the connections in Scripture that might elude them in their infancy.

The problem is that somewhere along the way many of these 'Christians' be the Arminian or Reformed in their beliefs...they never get beyond the hand holding stage. Even in their deep thinking, deep understanding...many of them grab onto big words taught by men to explain the simplicity of Scripture. They cling to their books and their articles. When questioned on something they hold tight to their men, quoting them, explaining things by using other men's explanations, parroting back what they have learned and they are often proud of their learning.

My recent encounters left me literally shocked at the arrogance of these 'Calvinists'. It's as if they are part of an elite club and big words and men's teachings rule. It's not Scripture that controls their thoughts, it's the teachings of men. It's not Christ that they identify with but the man that they see as setting out the tenets or rules, guidelines or parameters, of their belief system.

They are just as much a part of religiosity as the arminian.

They are followers behind a man just as much as the masses sitting in a 'holy' building every Sunday. Their leaders believe themselves 'called' to their position because something in them made them desire to lead. These leaders line up to join a school to learn to be a preacher...if they were truly 'called', would God not equip them for that calling so that they would have no need of being taught how to do their 'calling'? They file in like ants, anxious to be fed the ways of preachers so they can go out into the world and preach.

This is true be they Arminian or Reformed.

Then they get themselves a building complete with a stage for them to teach on. They stand in the place of honor, ruling over their underlings, entertaining and teaching in bite sized pieces. And their followers elevate them to a status of being beyond reproach.

And if one does dare to reproach them that person is quickly silenced. They do not welcome being told they are in error. They wish to rule their kingdom with unquestioning authority. Anyone in disagreement must disagree quietly and privately. Then the disagreer is quickly 'corrected', shown the error of their thought, or in some cases encouraged to leave the 'kingdom'.

My recent encounters with 'Calvinists' has shown me that they are followers of men just as much as the Arminian, just as much as the child in kindergarten follows their teacher, believing everything they are taught is correct and falling in love with their teacher.

The little five year old falls so in love with 'teacher' that 'teacher' is of more importance than Dad and Mom. 'Teacher' knows all and Dad and Mom do not. 'Teacher' is perfect. 'Teacher' is wonderful. 'Teacher' is...everything.

So is 'preacher'.

So is 'church forefather'.

So is 'theologist'.

So is 'author'.

So is 'philosopher'.

Why are the teachings of men elevated to rock star or movie star status? Why are they placed above the words of Scripture?

You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him. 24God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth. John 4:22-24

Does that verse not show that there will come a time when worship will come through the Spirit not through teachers? 

Why then is 'teacher' still given the status of god, leading his 'flock' to heaven? Leading their souls to heaven?