Pilgrim’s

Protest

-4-

what has the church done with The Word?

 

 

Once again I find myself inundated with disapproving emails. The way that I phrase certain things has hurt some feelings. This was not my intention. I can only ask my detractors to forgive me & be forbearing. I’m only human. Just a sinner, saved by grace & a man of like passions. There is a singular purpose for this blog & one that I stated at the very beginning of this venture, in March of 2016. This work exists to have a good old fashioned dig at new, fashionable doctrine, trends & general tomfoolery in the pulpit & the pew. Yes, I may have stepped on some toes along the way. Yes, I have been sarcastic. Yes, I can be facetious. Yes, I am cynical. Yes, I am guilty of all of these things to a fault. But it is not in my nature to roll over & be nice, when there are heretics, imposters, fakes & frauds running amok within The Church at large. They do this without restraint, challenge or accountability. Not everyone out there has the best interests of The Church at heart. Scripture is the only reliable standard we have, so I ask; what has The Church done with The Word?

¹¹ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing The Words of the LORD:  ¹² And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it (Amos 8:11-12).

Sooner or later we will have a choice to make as believers. Perhaps for some of us that time to choose has come already. We can be enthusiastically committed & dedicated, with the things of God first & foremost or we can be indifferently mediocre & milquetoast, with the things of God last & lastmost. Yes, I know that lastmost isn’t an actual word. I say these things to believers, not to the nominal who have long abandoned their spiritual root. Before anyone begins constructing their objections, let me be clear; I know that there are unbelievers in every single christian denomination. Those who go along to get along. Some for their salary & benefits. Some for whatever position they occupy within organisations. Some because they are false brethren.

When I look at The Church at large, there are fewer & fewer believers for whom The Word of The Lord is precious (1^st Samuel 3:1). Well, surely a famine of The Word isn’t likely in this day & age, is it? There are plenty of Bibles everywhere. Some of us have more than one! Lean in; if this is the way you’re thinking, you may be missing the point. Amos doesn’t speak of a famine of The Word. He speaks of a famine of hearing it. ‘For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not’. (Job 33:14). It is entirely possible for The Lord to be speaking in one place, but not in another. It is also entirely possible for Him to be speaking to people who are not listening. But don’t take my word for it; take His.

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² The same was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. ⁴ In him was life; and the life was the light of men. ⁵ And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.. ¹⁴ And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth (John 1:1-5 & 14). 

¹ God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, ² Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; ³ Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high (Hebrews 1:1-3).

²⁵ See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: ²⁶ Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. ²⁷ And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain (Hebrews 12:25-27). 

Look again at what Amos says. Famine. Not of bread. Famine. Not of water. Famine. Not of The Word. A famine of hearing it. God says that He will send the famine. If The Word of The Lord is not precious to us, if our ears are not set apart to it & for it & if there is no delight in it; we may find ourselves in similar straits. There are places where The Word takes precedence & others where The Word is conspicuous in its absence. There are some places that will feed you & others that will bleed you. We all have a choice to make; do we want to be fed, or do we want to be bled? The concern is not a lack of Divine bread or water brethren. The concern is whether or not we are hearing The Word, wherever we are. In this, The Lord gives us a supreme masterclass.

³¹ Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. ³² Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. ³⁴ Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. ³⁵ And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst (John 6:31-35).

Here we have no famine of bread. Christ offers Himself as their bread from heaven. Their fathers ate manna in the wilderness & they died (John 6:49 & 58). Jesus offered them eternal life. Not the food of angels (Psalms 78:25), but He Himself. They missed it. Jesus tells them plainly that He is the bread of life. However brethren, access to bread was not the issue. They were painfully unaware of their state of malnutrition.

³⁷ In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. ³⁸ He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. ³⁹ (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) (John 7:37-39).

There was no famine of thirst for water. Jesus Himself offers them living water. So what is the problem here? The Lord issues them warning & they do not listen. They did not want Him. Neither will they come to Him in order to receive the life He offered (John 5:40). There is no delight in them for The Word. Little did they realise that The Word was right there, in flesh & blood, dwelling among them. He knew them, but they did not know Him. They murmured because He said that He had come down from heaven (John 6:41). His brothers goaded Him to leave Galilee & go into Judea, ‘His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judaea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest. For there is no man that doeth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, shew thyself to the world.’ (John 7:3-4). They didn’t believe in Him, so He sent them on ahead of Him & went up later. The people murmured (John 7:12). They looked for Him, but could not find Him. They will look for The Word & shall not find it. Remember Amos 8:12? Jesus said to them, ‘Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come’. (John 7:34) & still they did not understand (John 7:36).

 ⁴² Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. ⁴³ Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word (John 8:42-43).

The living bread that came down from heaven, which is Christ & the living water that He offered were not the issue. They were not in short supply. The hearing of The Word was. Remember, God said that He would send the famine. Paul says, ‘But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world’. (Romans 10:16-18). When the hearing of The Word is in short supply, we will be in trouble. I don’t mean the formulaic faith that some preach. I mean The Word of The Truth of The Gospel (Colossians 1:5). All of this begs the question; under what circumstances did The Lord announce His intention to send this famine of hearing The Word?

⁴ Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, ⁵ Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? ⁶ That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat? ⁷ The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works. (Amos 8:4-7).

The poor & the needy are set up to be defrauded. What little they have is taken from them until even they themselves become a commodity. They are a means to an end. A necessary evil. The secular is prioritised above the sacred & in order to attain the venal goals that have been determined, these individuals willingly shortchange those they make merchandise of. More money. Less wheat. Even that which they offer is no better than worthless chaff. This was true in Amos’ day. This was true in Jesus’ day. This is true in The Church’s day. When The Lord says that He swears by the excellency of Jacob, He is swearing by Himself. Only He can do this. (Genesis 22:16, Hebrews 6:13). Samuel also refers to Him as the strength of Israel (1^st Samuel 15:29). While He Who is the living bread, supplies us with living water, we must hear The Word. Famine will be coming & for some, it may already have started. With these things in view, I have to ask; what has The Church done with The Word?

¹⁰ To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, The Word of the LORD is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it (Jeremiah 6:10).

 

 

 

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