THE ETERNAL IS GOD & THE PRIMACY OF PETER
THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE
In the garden, God told Adam that he could eat the fruit of every tree.
Only the fruit of the tree of knowledge was forbidden to Adam Gen
2:16-17. Now the serpent came to tempt the man's wife, declaring
that, when ye eat, your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods,
knowing good and evil Gen 3:4-5.
The woman's eyes were opened for she did eat of the fruit. By
taking of the fruit she had decided good from evil, right from wrong for
herself. From that point on, she would decide for herself what was
right or wrong, she would be a god in her own eyes.
From this point on, throughout history, we find human beings deciding
for themselves what is right or wrong. In so doing many different
persons have come up with many different ideas of right and wrong.
The history of man has been written in the blood of those who thought
that they were right and were trying to force others to accept their
beliefs.
To put an end to such conflicts, it is absolutely essential that a
Supreme Authority, accepted, respected and obeyed by everyone,
make all decisions about what is right or wrong. That is the only
way to the peace and happiness that all persons crave. That
Supreme Authority is God.
God has an ABSOLUTE RIGHT to this position of Supreme Authority. First
by virtue of being the Father Creator of all physical life. Second
by virtue of the vast wisdom born of infinite life and experience.
Third, by the simple fact that man has utterly failed and has proved
totally unable to discern right from wrong by himself.
WE NEED GOD! Like any young child needs it's parents. We may
think that we are able, but we simply cannot take care of ourselves.
WE NEED A FATHER to lead and guide us and teach us how to live and get
along with each other. Eve and Adam thought that they could decide
things for themselves and so rejected their Father Creator. All
history since then has been a bloody and graphic demonstration of how
wrong they were. Mankind cannot find the way, we cannot discern
between right and wrong, we need HELP, we need someone to show us the
way. Only when all peoples realize this and are ready to humble
themselves before their Creator will they begin to follow His
instructions leading to peace.
BINDING AND LOOSING
In Mat 16:19 our Lord said "And I will give unto thee the keys of
the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be
bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be
loosed in heaven."
Through the ages, many have come quoting these words and claiming that
they, as heirs of Peter, have the power from Christ to change God's
commandments. On the basis of this claim they have attempted to
change times and laws Dan 7:25,. This is the sole authority by
which the Roman Catholic church has changed sabbath from Saturday
to Sunday. It is the authority used by many men to change many things.
But does this verse really convey authority to men, to overrule God's
word?
Jesus said "if thou wilt enter into life, KEEP THE
COMMANDMENTS" Mat 19:17. He also said that only those who
keep the commandments will have a right to the tree of life Rev 22:14.
How could He say these things and then give men authority to change
those commandments at will, rendering them meaningless? What did
He really mean by binding and loosing anyway?
The answer is found in Mat 18:15-18. Here Christ tells us to
exhaust all methods of resolving disputes after which we may appeal to
the authority of the church. Here He explains that the church has
authority to make binding decisions regarding disputes when requested to
do so. Binding and loosing is NOT about power to change God's
law. It IS about the power of the church to make binding decisions
BASED ON GOD'S LAW! It is about men sincerely seeking Godly
help in resolving serious disputes by appealing to those who are
older, wiser and more experienced in the knowledge of God. It IS
about wisely applying and enforcing God's commandments, NOT about changing
or doing away with those commandments!
Many have argued about whether only Peter had the power to
bind and loose and whether he was the chief apostle. Read the
context of Mat 18:15-20. You will find that the matter will be
bound when two or three agree. In the final analysis, the
whole company of believers, including all the apostles, were the
disciples of Jesus Christ. It was JESUS CHRIST who was the
chief apostle in those days Heb 3:1, and it is JESUS CHRIST who has been
the chief apostle down through the ages, He is still the chief apostle
today and will continue to be forever! If any two or three members
of the body make a decision based upon God's Word and will, if that
decision is completely consistent with God's law and will, then Jesus
Christ and the Holy Father in heaven will make it binding.
THE KEYS TO THE KINGDOM
What are the keys to the Kingdom of God? A key unlocks and opens a
door. What opens the door to God? John writes, Joh 10:9;
that Jesus said, I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. What is the key that unlocks the door of Christ?
And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.
He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar,
and the truth is not in him. 1 Joh 2:3-4. And whatsoever we ask, we
receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things
that are pleasing in His sight 1 Joh 3:22. WHAT are we asking for?
For ACCESS to the Father through the door of Christ and the
key to that door is to; KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS of God. Rev
3:8; because, you have kept my word (my commandments) and have not
denied my name (my authority). I have set before thee an open
door. Thus giving us access to the Father and the kingdom of God.
The true Philadelphian follows God and His Christ, keeping their
commandments, and acknowledging their authority as supreme. They
follow men ONLY as those men follow God, constantly checking their
pronouncements against the ultimate authority of the Word Of God.
As Peter said to the high priest, We ought to obey God rather than men
Acts 5:29. To look up only those scriptures quoted to us, is
simply following men, doing what they say. We need to search the
scriptures diligently, looking up everything on each subject with prayer
and an open mind.
Sin is the transgression of the law 1 Joh 3:4. Sin comes between
man and God Isaiah 59:2. Christ paid the price for sin Joh 1:29. If we
repent and sin no more Joh 5:14, Joh 8:11, 1 Cor 15:34 and 1 Joh 3:9,
the door of Christ's mediation opens 1 Ti 2:5 and Heb 12:24 giving
us access to the Father Rom 8:15. It is the removal of the sin
that separates us from God, by the application of the sacrifice of
Christ, that places us in peaceful harmony with Him. He can then
reveal spiritual things to us including His true gospel, which we may
then preach to the world. The true gospel is about repentance from sin
as well as about the kingdom of God. For what is a kingdom without
citizens? If there is no repentance, there are no citizens!
Truely, CHRIST is the DOOR to the kingdom! And, the key to that
door, which gives us entrance to the kingdom, is the gospel of
repentance and forgiveness through Jesus Christ!
WHO IS THE
MASTER
I have heard some men say "I am a minister of Jesus Christ, I can do
anything I want and God has to back me up". How valid is that
position?
It is written Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey,
his servants ye are to whom ye obey? Rom 6:16. I say to you, IF you were
the servants of Jesus Christ, you would be obeying Him, you would be doing what
He wants, NOT anything that you want. IF you are doing whatever you want,
you are NOT the servants of Christ, but the servants of your own passions.
Now if you are only doing whatever you want and yet say that God has to back you
up, have you not made yourself MASTER and God your SERVANT? In saying that
God must support what you want, you have EXAULTED YOURSELF ABOVE GOD!!!
NO SIR; YOU CANNOT DO WHATEVER YOU WANT AND STILL BE A SERVANT OF JESUS
CHRIST!! NO SIR; IT IS NOT GOD'S JOB TO BACK YOU UP!!
IT IS OUR JOB TO BACK HIM UP!!
TO DECEIVE A
PEOPLE
It is very difficult to deceive a body of converted believers, when they all
accept the common standard of holy scripture and study it diligently. If
however, these people can be convinced that God works only through one man and
that God's spirit cannot lead them, except through that man, then
that man has come between them and God. When this happens, it is
only necessary to deceive that one man and all the rest will follow him into the
error. A recent and classic example, is the way in which Joseph
Tkach was able to lead many thousands astray. Herbert Armstrong taught
emphatically, for many decades, against the primacy of Peter heresy,
but by 1976, he was announcing in all congregations, that he was the
heir of Peter, with ALL POWER to sit in judgement of God's law,
binding and loosing as he saw fit. This led to much doctrinal back
and forth, while the ensuing disasters, speak of God's
displeasure with him. He had been convinced, gradually over a period of
years, to accept the heresy that he had so powerfully condemned. Led
astray by flatterers, led principally by SR and HH. In a strange
irony, thousands of others left Tkach claiming their faithfulness to the
teachings of Herbert Armstrong, while defying his main teaching of the previous
several years, that the human leader had the power to make any
changes he wanted. They had to defy his teachings to remain loyal to his
teachings!! In all this, WHO WAS LOYAL TO GOD?
This is a great evil. For allowing anyone or anything to come between us
and God is the sin of IDOLATRY. It is this evil, of following men blindly
and neglect of the scripture that has led to the chaos and confusion in the
church today. It is not enough, to just read what you are told.
Study all scripture on any one subject. We have gotten far too lazy in our
study habits.
On the other hand. If all the people are diligently studying the Word of
God to prove all things, they will save themselves and do a great service to
their human leader. For he will benefit from their input .
To paraphrase an old quote; My friend, right or wrong. If right, to keep
him right, if wrong to make him right. We do neither ourselves nor our
friends and leaders any service by following them into error. The ONLY
refuge from error is the HOLY SPIRIT which shall lead you into ALL TRUTH John
16:13. The HOLY SPIRIT is given to those who OBEY GOD Acts 5:32. Study
the holy scriptures, prayerfully and diligently and keep all the commandments of
God, for in them you will find life.
THE MAN OF SIN
The son of perdition, who opposes and exaulteth himself above all that is called
God 2 Thess 3-4, will soon be revealed. Do you really think that he will
be able to deceive anyone by claiming that he is God? Of course not.
The deceit is much more subtle than that. He will say that he is the heir
of Peter, having the power to bind and loose God's laws, thereby making himself THE
SUPREME JUDGE over God! He will substitute his own will and the
traditions of his church for God's word Mk 7:13. Since this man will also
have the power to do miracles, he will be believed by many. He will
APPEAR, to the whole world, as the ultimate authority, sitting at the head of
God's church. Only those who accept the holy bible and ALMIGHTY GOD as
their ultimate authority will avoid this deception, only they will understand
that he is a false god leading a church of deceived souls. We need to
STUDY, to show thyself approved unto God 2 Ti 2:15. We need to TEST
those who claim to be apostles or men of God Rev 2:2. We need to PROVE ALL
THINGS by God's word 1 Th 5:21. And finally, we need to be DOERS of the
word and not just hearers James 1:22 for only the DOERS of the law shall be
justified Rom 2:13. Friends, the final man of sin is not the only deceiver in
this world. We cannot just pray to the Father, Your Will be done, we
must go out and PLEASE Him by DOING His Will and KEEPING His
Commandments. For it is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and HIM ONLY
SHALT THOU SERVE Mat 4:10.
CHURCH AUTHORITY
Some may conclude, upon reading this article, that I am against all human
authority, on matters of religion. Nothing could be further from the
truth. Please read the study paper on, Church Authority, for more
information.
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