I have been teaching the bible for nearly thirty years and pastoring full time for over twenty two of those years. For a major portion of that time I was deceived by thinking that GOD’S Law was practically irrelevant to me as a Christian. Once that I became aware of the deception and decided to submit to The WORD of GOD, The HOLY SPIRIT began to guide me exactly as JESUS promised in John 16:13! I praise HIM!
Commonwealth of WHICH kingdom?
What I now realize is that for most of my Christian life I was living according to the rights of citizenship or the commonwealth (GRK; politeia or rights/responsibilities of citizenship) of the WRONG kingdom, all the while believing that I was enjoying the commonwealth of the TRUE Kingdom! Even though I had always taught that believers were to be separate, because of my unbiblical (making HIS WORD subjective to my own ideas) approach to the entirety of The Scriptures, it was never clear as to HOW we were to live out that separation! I now realize that the two kingdoms are worlds apart and confusion is the fruit of allegiance to both! MESSIAH put it this way in John 17:14-16 “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.”
Once I was in the process of allowing HIS SPIRIT to lead and guide, I was so enjoying it that I naively thought that was going to be it! :>)
Commonwealth More Specifically!
Recently however, I have been trying to understand and apply JESUS’ words above as to how I am to live in even ANOTHER “commonwealth” and still honor and accurately represent HIM in doing so. I’m referring to my commonwealth as an American citizen. As a subject of The Kingdom of GOD, with my eternal citizenship being in the heavenlies, how much am I supposed to concern myself with the commonwealth of being a citizen of the U.S.? How much effort am I to put into learning what my “rights and responsibilities” are in this country? Don’t the Scriptures teach that believers are supposed to be committed to obeying the laws of the land in which they live, unless they oppose the LAW of GOD? If that is true then I ask you, How is it possible (to obey the laws of this land) if we are ignorant of them?
Hypocrisy is Lip Deep!
As I stated above, there was a time when I lived in ignorance to the biblical view of The Law of GOD.(See article “Which Law Do You Follow?”) Even though it was not my intention to do so, looking back now I see that I really only gave lip service to obeying HIM. I was as guilty as the scribes and Pharisees and people of Isrel were, as described in Matthew 15:7-9. “Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 8‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. 9And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
The main reason that JESUS made this statement at that time was because Israel had exchanged the TRUTH of GOD’S Commandments for the lies of their own doctrines and commandments AND their own traditions! (See Mt. 15:1-6). I have already addressed this problem in another article so I won’t go any further with that here, except to say that I now realize that part of my own hypocrisy in the past existed through believing and teaching an unbiblical church view as well as believing and teaching an unbiblical world view.
Unbiblical WORD View?
My unbiblical WORD view consisted of (but was not limited to) rejecting GOD’S Law, accepting pagan practices as being Christian, rejecting GOD’S priesthood in YESHUA, accepting man’s priesthood (which JESUS calls) Nicolaitanism, (See articles on Nicolaitanism) consisting of a non-biblical hierarchy of career minded professionals like pastors, bishops, priests and popes (both official and unofficial), etc. I would assume that you understand what I mean by an “official pope”. By “unofficial popes” I am referring to those individuals who began in ministry, which then developed into “a movement” and finally (officially and/or unofficially), became a denomination, whose followers still quote and depend upon that person for the final word in a matter… In a word, these are movements built upon men (or women) instead of being built upon The WORD of GOD! The similarities existing between the hypocrisy confronted by JESUS in Matthew 15 and the hypocrisy of today’s Christianity, by now, should be clearer to you! I have repented of my involvement in all of that and continue to do so every time it rears its ugly head in my thoughts, attitudes and actions today!
Unbiblical World View?
My unbiblical world view consisted of (but was not limited to); allowing the so called “separation of church and state”, to influence me in believing that the Founders of this country were probably deists, that believers shouldn’t be involved in politics, even to the extreme of them not voting, and that the “career professionals” (including lawyers, judges, politicians, etc) were the ones who were supposed to manage and oversee this country, much like I believed concerning what the career minded professionals of Christianity were supposed to do with the church… This perspective creates a non-participatory spectatorism among the masses and an elitist hierarchy at the top!
We began the process of coming out of the traditional, non-participatory spectatorism of a lawless Christianity about 4 years ago and since have been actively engaged in knowing and obeying the Law of GOD. Shouldn’t we be doing the same concerning the law of this land? Consider how long you have been a resident of this country. With that in mind, how well do you know what is contained in The Constitution /The Bill of Rights, (the Law) of this country? The reason that I ask this is because we have seen (generally speaking), that Christianity doesn’t seem to want much to do with The Law of YHWH, even as Americans, (generally speaking), don’t seem to want much to do with The Constitution,/Bill of Rights, the law of this land… Do you see the irony? Do you see the similarity? Do you understand the consequences? Neglecting GOD’S Law and/or The Laws of your country, results in bondage…
A few final thoughts
“Tyranny cannot flourish where truth exists and the people are involved.”
When the people are NOT actively engaged in their practice of Christianity, it leads to Nicolaitanism or a man-made priesthood OVER the people. When the people are NOT actively engaged in their government that leads to Totalitarianism…
“Government operates as it does because the people are ignorant of the federal government’s place as defined by the Founders.”
When the people are ignorant of The Scriptures, having left that knowledge up to religious, career minded professionals, the people are easily led astray. When the American people are ignorant of The Constitution/The Bill of Rights, having left that knowledge up to secular, career minded professionals in government, the people are easily led astray…
In closing, I encourage you to get your hands on a copy of The Constitution(Also, see article “Liberty-The Constitution And The Law”) Read it and study it until you are familiar enough with it to know when it is being misapplied, misquoted, etc… I read through it the other night in just less than an hour! I was amazed to see what it says as compared to what is being practiced today! May we be law abiding, peace loving citizens as we live in this commonwealth and are waiting for that city “whose builder and maker is GOD!”
