dogs in the manger

removing leaven from the children’s bread

-2-

As I have said many times before & will doubtless say again, it often appears to me that The Church at large has either lost its memory or lost its mind. We seem to have forgotten that anything or anyone that has not been sanctioned or inaugurated by The Lord, does not automatically have His blessing. He may choose to use it or them for His ultimate purpose & glory, but this is no guarantee of success or succession. In the modern Church, are there those who have positioned themselves by conveniently taking advantage of a power vacuum or the failures of another? Are there those who have set themselves above the people they are meant to serve? Are there those who believe that it is acceptable to do what they think is right in their own eyes & convince themselves & others that it is all for the furtherance of The Gospel? I say again, anything or anyone that has not been sanctioned or inaugurated by The Lord, does not automatically have His blessing. This is the case with our dogs in the manger. The Lord Jesus said as much during his own ministry, when dealing with His arch antagonists; the Pharisees & Sadducees. Let’s look at the latter. 'Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.' (Matthew 21:43). To listen to some, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the Jewish leadership in Christ’s day, had been making the best of a bad situation & were simply going along to get along with Imperial Rome. However, history will tell us that the Sadducees had systems that worked in their favour, not the people’s. It was not until Christ’s appearance that the poor had The Gospel preached to them, that the broken-hearted were being healed, that the captives were being delivered, that the blind were receiving their sight & liberty had been made available to those who were bruised (Luke 4:18). These same principal things were told to John’s disciples when they came to Jesus.

² Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, ³ And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? ⁴ Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: ⁵ The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. ⁶ And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me (Matthew 11:2-7).

The Jewish leadership’s cart was full to the brim, but little did they know that gentle Jesus meek & mild would kick & rip its wheels off in a manner most spectacular & upsetting. No doubt, to them Jesus was just that annoying little boy from Nazareth, with His thick & unappealing Galilean accent. The irritating, untaught carpenter who had amazed & no doubt embarrassed them in The Temple when He was only twelve years of age (Luke 2:41-52). They knew His family. His mother, Mary. His adopted Father, Joseph. His sisters. His brothers, James, Joses, Judas & Simon (Mark 6:3). Yes, Him. Jesus was about His Father’s business, but the Sadducees were about their own business entirely. Remember, anything or anyone that has not been sanctioned or inaugurated by The Lord, does not automatically have His blessing. Neither is it a guarantee of success or succession.

In the Old Testament we saw the establishment of the ministries of the Prophet, the Priest & the King. There were no Sadducees. The Lord did not put their offices in place. He had not called them. He had not sent them. There was no sanction. There was no inauguration. In part one of this series of articles we looked at the inter testamental period when this group emerged, which to all intents & purposes worked towards the preservation of Judaism at that time. When Jesus appeared, they had moved from preservation to preference & the power that they could not wield over their Roman oppressors was instead exercised over & against those among whom they were meant to be shepherds. This was classic displacement of the worst kind. As we examine their interactions with The Lord, a very clear picture of their loyalties & affiliations appears, starkly juxtaposed to Christ’s supreme Messiahship. Yet He would have willingly & lovingly accepted them with open arms, if they had only chosen to believe in Him & Who He was. Unfortunately for them, they had no intention of doing that because it would have meant letting go of their respective & prospective power bases. Instead they consolidated their positions & doubled down to the point of murder. The murder of their Messiah. Remember the words of Moses, “Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say, Amen” (Deuteronomy 27:25).

⁴⁷ Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. ⁴⁸ If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. ⁴⁹ And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, ⁵⁰ Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. ⁵¹ And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; ⁵² And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. ⁵³ Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death (John 11:47-53).

They did not want to lose their place at the trough. Both Pharisee & Sadducee had worked very hard to secure their positions over centuries & were not about to allow anyone or anything to come between them & their power, influence, dominance or indeed their money. Although both groups were opposed politically & theologically, they came together in this common cause to rid themselves of Christ & protect their vested interests. In this, we see the stage set by Christ’s forerunner, John the Baptist, while he had been preaching in the wilderness & multitudes were going out to hear him there & be baptised.

⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸ Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: ⁹ And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. ¹⁰ And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. ¹¹ I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: ¹² Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire ¹³ Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him (Matthew 3:7-12).

The Sadducees believed in The Pentateuch, which are the five books of Moses; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy. Because resurrection, the afterlife & angelic beings aren’t explicitly mentioned in those books, they were not a part of what they considered to be the pure faith. This meant that they lived life for the here & now, or rather, for the there & then. In an effort to derail Jesus, they threw Him a curveball that they had been constantly throwing at the Pharisees, based on a passage concerning levirate marriage in Deuteronomy chapter 25. This matrimonial principle first appears in Genesis 38 where Onan refused to obey Judah’s command concerning Tamar. It’s also the reason that Boaz took Ruth to be his wife (Ruth 4:13). Quite a thing. Not only did the Sadducees cynically mock the concept of & belief in resurrection from the dead, but they also parodied the Pharisees’ interpretation of it. By extension, the Sadducees also sought to humiliate & degrade The Master Rabbi.

²³ The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him, ²⁴ Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. ²⁵ Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother: ²⁶ Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh. ²⁷ And last of all the woman died also. ²⁸ Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her. ²⁹ Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. ³⁰ For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. ³¹ But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, ³² I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. ³³ And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine. ³⁴ But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together (Matthew 22:23-34).

Jesus answers their question & dispatches them skilfully & easily, muzzling them. They were in error. They did not know The Scriptures. They did not know the power of God. Notice that He tackles their unbelief head on. Not only would the woman & her successive husbands be in the afterlife, which the Sadducees did not believe in, but they would also be like the angels, whom the Sadducees didn’t believe in either. Jesus shows them clearly from a book of Moses, whom they revered, that God Himself declares to them that He is The God of the living, not the dead. The Sadducees are thus left with a larger question; where would they be in the afterlife? Their doctrine was false & it was part of the leaven that The Lord had warned His disciples about (Matthew 16:6).

Their unbelief polluted the faith of the common people, leaving them without hope in God. This is a serious state of affairs. In this, I am reminded of the words of The Apostle Paul, who said “ Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:  And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:  And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable” (1^st Corinthians 15:12-19).

Unbelief never ceased to amaze The Lord (Matthew 13:57-58 & Mark 6:6). He considers it evil. The Jewish leadership refused to relinquish their stranglehold on the people, The Temple & the lucrative business that had been established there. All of this from a bunch of blokes who were proud of their claim of heritage going back to Zadok the Priest.

¹² Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. ¹³ But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. ¹⁴ For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; ¹⁵ While it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. ¹⁶ For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. ¹⁷ But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? ¹⁸ And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? ¹⁹ So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief (Hebrews 3:12-19).

The Sadducees were preventing everyone who followed them from entering The Kingdom Christ preached, because they didn’t believe there was one. Neither would they go in themselves. They refused to believe in the resurrection of the dead or the existence of the supernatural. (Acts 23:8). They were dogs in the manger, feeding God’s children with leavened bread. All of this suited the governing powers, who had made the choice of High Priest from among the Sadducees. The appointment was political, not spiritual. Nevertheless, for Imperial Rome it was better to have unbelieving, unconverted & possibly atheistic Sadducees controlling those they had conquered, rather than the zealous, separatist & fanatical Pharisees who may have stirred rebellion & uprising & so it remains.

Whenever the state or governing authority have a hand in matters that ought to be controlled by The Church, you have dirty hands touching holy things. Corruption occurs when leadership chooses to forget or ignore this. Remember, he who pays the piper calls the tune. In this, I’m reminded of the words of Moses, who said, “Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous” (Exodus 23:8 & Deuteronomy 16:19).

Fraud, dishonesty, bribery & partiality were nothing new. This went hand in hand with an unbelieving segment of clergy who did not believe in their Messiah. Their position was lucrative & they loved the status quo. However, the Sadducees would have done well to have heeded the object lessons that The Lord taught through Eli & Samuel.

¹² Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the Lord. ¹³ And the priest's custom with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand; ¹⁴ And he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fleshhook brought up the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither. ¹⁵ Also before they burnt the fat, the priest's servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw. ¹⁶ And if any man said unto him, Let them not fail to burn the fat presently, and then take as much as thy soul desireth; then he would answer him, Nay; but thou shalt give it me now: and if not, I will take it by force. ¹⁷ Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord: for men abhorred the offering of the Lord (1^st Samuel 2:12-17).

Consider this. These unbelieving reprobates were abusing their positions. They were abusing the people. They were abusing the offerings. Because of them & their actions, the Israelites despised their duty. They took every opportunity for themselves & full advantage of their monopoly. Their father did nothing about it. By all accounts he may very well have benefited from their activities, because at the time of his death he was rather overweight (1^st Samuel 2:29). Is it any wonder that God decided to kill them? I’m not advocating the death of bad leaders, but The Lord can do as He wishes.

²² Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel; and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. ²³ And he said unto them, Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people. ²⁴ Nay, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear: ye make the Lord's people to transgress. ²⁵ If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him: but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall intreat for him? Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the Lord would slay them (1^st Samuel 2:22-25).

Despite Samuel’s righteous living & obedience to God, his sons were no better than the sons of Eli. As a matter of fact, it is because of their actions that the children of Israel rejected God & asked for a king. The Lord gave them Saul & we all know how that episode panned out, don’t we? It did not end well at all.

¹And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. ² Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beersheba. ³ And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment (1^st Samuel 8:1-3).

In the same way, the Sadducees & their administration controlled The Temple in a manner that suited them. If there was money involved, there they were. Because they were essentially deists, it didn’t bother their conscience to exploit the faithful & more importantly, the poor. God was absent. There was no afterlife, heaven or hell. No eternal punishment. No angels. No demons. No devil. The Sadducees were secularists to the nth degree, so it’s ironic that they came to religious prominence, given their pseudo piety & zero conviction.

Even so today, we have men who couldn’t run a bath, entering christian ministry even though they don’t believe the most basic tenets of the faith. Their institution is in bed with the state & must remain subject to its whims if they wish to stay in power. Dogs in the manger. Purveyors of leaven. Looking down their long religious noses at those who believe everything that they do not. Despising the faithful in private. Taking their money in public. Is it any wonder that they raised the ire of Christ to such supernatural levels & provoked His fury to an unprecedented scale!

Throughout His ministry, Jesus systematically chips away at the Sadducees, their false teaching & their greed, whilst simultaneously ministering to the common people. He nails them time & time again, no matter how many moral & theological traps they lay across His path. He meets them at every turn. At His baptism in The Jordan, the heavens open & The Holy Spirit descends on Jesus. God The Father speaks, endorsing Christ (Matthew 3). This was one in the eye for the Sadducees who believed God to be an absentee deity. They were present at His baptism. They heard it.

Jesus is then driven into the wilderness & fasts for 40 days & nights. Afterwards, the devil comes to tempt Him. Jesus successfully resists, rebuffs & rebukes him. Angels then come to minister to Him (Matthew 4). Interestingly, The Lord dissembles the devil with verses from the book of Deuteronomy. A book the Sadducees believed in. His temptations were the same desires that befell Adam & Eve, namely, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes & the pride of life. This would have forced the Sadducees, in their theology, to acknowledge God’s presence, not His absence because this interaction between Christ & the devil was a recurrence of that which took place in the book of Genesis. Another book the Sadducees believed in & another swing at their abhorrent false teaching. I can just imagine them throwing their hands up when they hear this & saying, “Oy vey, again with the angels!”

*for the sake of brevity I have opted not to deal with the sermon on the mount & its ramifications on the doctrine of the Sadducees or Pharisees. However, I may do this in a separate article called ‘Jesus & The Gentiles’, at another time.

¹ When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. ² And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. ³ And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. ⁴ And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them (Matthew 8:1-4).

Immediately after preaching His sermon on the mount, Jesus makes His decent. The Lord encounters a leper in need of healing & later, when He returns to Capernaum, a Roman Centurion with a servant who was sick with a paralysing illness. Having already blackened the eyes of the Sadducees, Jesus prepares to bloody their noses. The leper had waited because of the commandments concerning his disease, but he sees Jesus & makes a beeline for Him, worshipping Him. Christ The Messiah is Emmanuel. God with us. Not the missing God that the Sadducees taught. Jesus heals the man & then sends him to The Temple. Only The High Priest can declare him clean, according to The Law. Who was The High Priest? A Sadducee. This unbelieving deist & secularist would have had his theology bludgeoned. Not only had the supernatural occurred, but this happening was one of the miracles that only The Messiah could perform. Notice that Jesus tells the man to go & offer the sacrifice commanded by Moses (Leviticus 14) as a testimony to them. The Sadducees would have to deal with this. Their impersonal God had come to town. He had shown up & was doing things in a way that they could not deny. Thankfully, after His resurrection, it would seem that some of the priesthood believed (Acts 6:7). We will come to this later.

Next comes the Centurion as Jesus enters Capernaum. For some, he was equally as unclean as the leper, because he was a gentile & on the cutting edge of the oppressors of the Jews. Jesus doesn’t miss a beat when He is told of the man’s servant who is suffering a debilitating disease. He offers to go to this gentile’s house & heal his servant. Wait, what? This Rabbi was going to go to the house of a filthy pagan, idol worshipping, blaspheming, unclean, swine eating dog? Really? Yes. His actions make a clear theological statement; The Lord deals with Israel first & then turns His attention to the gentiles.

Because of the centurion’s recognition of Christ & who He is, His complete authority & His absolute power, Jesus heals the man’s servant. He has given the Sadducees two black eyes & a bloody nose. Now He brings them to their knees with a statement that rocks their teaching further. Remember, the Sadducees did not believe that there was an afterlife, but here, Jesus asserts that there most definitely is.

¹¹ And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. ¹² But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:11-12).

In the modern church, are there those who are like the Sadducees, who will pay lip service to their belief in Scripture? They will go through the motions with their traditions. They are liberal concerning essential doctrine. They will mentally assent to a belief in God, His existence & the Lordship of Christ. They are dogs in the manger. They lace the children’s bread with unspeakable leaven. They stand in the way of the people’s access to God.

Their false belief system prevents their entry into The Kingdom & in turn dooms those who follow them. In practise they are deists, secularists & perhaps even atheist. They cosy up to the powers that be, the regime of the day or the governing authorities because they cannot maintain their position without state sanction or permission. They are humanists. They despise the faithful & they exploit the poor. They are lack-lustre. They are milquetoast.

Jesus forges ahead with object lesson after object lesson. He waded into the Sadducees with theological left hooks, doctrinal jabs, Messianic uppercuts & miraculous thrusts & parries. The best was yet to come though. It was no swan song, but rather The Lord’s pièce de résistance. It was His cleansing of the Temple.

¹² And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, ¹³ And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. ¹⁴ And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them. ¹⁵ And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the son of David; they were sore displeased (Matthew 21:12-15).

From the writer’s perspective & I dare say from God’s, what Jesus did here was seen as wonderful (vs.15). As Passover approaches, Israelites were removing leaven from their houses. We see Christ doing the very same thing here in His house. The Sadducees oversaw Temple activities, including the sacrifices & business was booming. Annas & Ciaphas had the whole thing sewn up & for their efforts received a healthy cut. Booths were set up in the court of the Gentiles & for any male over 20 who was travelling to Jerusalem from afar tri-annually to appear before The Lord, it was convenient for them to purchase an animal at the Temple. No doubt, there was a significant mark up on the livestock. Move over Goy, we’re coming through!

The money changers were essentially bankers. They charged a small fee for converting foreign currency into coinage that was acceptable for paying Temple taxes. They also charged interest. The half shekel was the only coin used in the Temple instead of the pagan ones that bore the image of the Emperor. This worked perfectly. It was silver & weighed approximately eight ounces. Because of this coin’s uniqueness, the money changers could control its value & manipulate it to whatever they felt they could get away with.

*In his book The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah historian Alfred Edersheim reports Josephus and the Rabbinic writings of the time claim that Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, was in charge of the “Temple-market.” The Rabbinic efforts referred to this market as the “Bazaars of the sons of Annas.”  Josephus claimed Annas was very rich and guilty of “despoiling by open violence the common priests of their official revenues.” & Recent discoveries in Jerusalem have revealed what is believed to be the dwelling quarters of the high priest on the Eastern side of the city overlooking the temple.  Initial reports compare the opulence displayed to be on par with today’s billionaires. While most Jews lived day to day in small, crowded dwellings, the residence of the High Priest was a palace.  Far from what God intended for a humble servant.  

Royce Ellis, pbstudy.org

Does this remind you of anything taking place in the modern Church today? Money grabbing ministers living in opulence, while those they are meant to be serving are systematically ripped off, taken advantage of & preyed upon relentlessly. Furthermore, they are being taught error, heresy & unbelief. If you needed a Lamb or were poverty stricken & opted for Doves, you had no control over what you were charged for your trouble. In other words, someone else dictated the price of your atoning sacrifice. This was something that only God could do. As well as this was the fact that if your purchase was found to be defective once you entered the Temple, there were no refunds. You would have to buy another animal or set of birds, at an even more inflated price. You had no choice. This was a monopoly. The Sadducees controlled the money & the merchandise.

Jesus goes into the Temple complex & the court of the Gentiles. Sadducee territory. He heads for the booths & is visibly angry, but not blinded by it. In typical Messianic style The Lord throws out those who were both buying & selling, just as He had cast demons out. He turns over the tables of those handling the money & growing rich while they ran their lucrative banking scheme. None of this is done quietly. All of it directly affected commercial dealings. Imagine one man stopping trading at a commodities exchange! These actions would have put a massive dent in the profits generated for Annas, Ciaphas. Out with the leaven! Jesus wasn’t finished. He also overturned the seats of those selling Doves. That was a sign of the exploitation & abuse of the poor.

I am pretty sure that The Lord had their undivided attention by now. He raises His voice above the commotion & delivers a hammer blow, quoting from Isaiah 56 & Jeremiah 7. I encourage you to read those chapters for yourself, in your own time. The Temple system that the Sadducees had set up revealed them for the dogs in the manger that they were. They & their operation stood in the way of the people coming to their God. Jesus clears these things & people out the way & then He demonstrates God’s will. The blind come to Him. The lame come to Him. He heals them. Small wonder that there was rejoicing in the Temple after these things had taken place & this is why He was hailed as Messiah to the displeasure of the Scribes & the Sadducees. But there was nothing they could do, except plot to kill Him.

⁸ The Lord God, which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him (Isaiah 56:8).

The Sadducees were not interested in anything other than making money & maintaining the status quo. Eventually, this also meant ridding themselves of the thorn in their sides that Jesus of Nazareth was. The same means that they employed to rob, deceive & ostracise the common people was utilised to accuse, judge & condemn Christ. Only the Romans could implement the death penalty & so it fell to Pilate to have The Lord flogged & crucified.

I’m sure that there was a collective sigh of relief as the news of Jesus’ death reached the ears of the Jewish leadership. They could go back to business & get on with enjoying their Passover. However, The Lord had other plans.

¹ In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. ² And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. ³ His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: ⁴ And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. ⁵ And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. ⁶ He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. ⁷ And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you (Matthew 28:1-7).

Jesus was back! He was alive! There’s an earthquake. The Marys witness the decent of The Angel of The Lord. He was also seen by the Roman guards in all his glory. Notice that the women were told not to be afraid, nor did they fall down as dead men. I wonder how those preaching the phenomenon of being slain in the spirit would explain this. The righteous always fell forward onto their faces. The ungodly always fell back. Anyway, I digress. Jesus had spoken of earthquakes in diverse places as one of the signs before the end. Perhaps this earthquake was inaugural in type, just as The Lord’s ascension typifies the rapture. The angel says nothing to the soldiers, because they are not The Lord’s disciples. He gives them strict instructions, no doubt from Christ Himself.

¹¹ Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done. ¹² And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, ¹³ Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. ¹⁴ And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him, and secure you. ¹⁵ So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day (Matthew 28:11-15).

This left the Sadducees with major theological problems. First of all these were Roman soldiers, not disciples of Christ. These men were there when the earth quaked & the angel descended. They saw him with their own eyes. The Sadducees did not believe in angels. The tomb was empty. Empty. They had not seen Jesus walk out of the sepulchre. The angel had rolled the stone away in order to let people in, not to let Jesus out. He was not in there because He had been raised. The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. Their reaction is typical of the unbelieving. Lie. Cover it up. Throw money at the problem. This is what dogs in the manger will do & The Lord will always challenge them.

 

End of Part Two

 

 

 copyright Ó by david Samuel Parkins mmxxiv all rights reserved.

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dogs in the manger

removing leaven from the children’s bread

-1-

WE The Church, have been extremely careless. I don’t say that some have been. I don’t say that you have been, or indeed, that I have been. I say we. Our lethargy has left The Church’s serious condition, unchecked. Not saying or doing anything under these  circumstances, has allowed some of the worst uses & abuses of power, trust, influence & resources ever perpetrated among & upon those of us who claim & name the Name of Jesus Christ, within His Church. Moreover, I have found that a significant portion of believing Christians are blissfully unaware of, or moved by this state of affairs. For multitudes, it is simply business as usual. This sorry state of affairs is both bad & sad. Where, some have asked me, is my evidence of the decline, decay & demise that I constantly speak of? Turn your television on & watch mainstream christian programming. Turn on your radio & listen to national & international christian broadcasting. Open up any social media platform of your choice & find tailored christian content. The contamination of the faith once delivered is both deep & wide. We have strayed from the orthodoxy that is so very clearly laid down for us in Scripture & have opted instead for anything bright & shiny that catches our attention. We have been busy, perhaps unwittingly, but most definitely, scratching our itching ears. Of course, this is not true of every church fellowship, christian ministry or minister of The Gospel & for this we can be thankful.

For two millennia, The Church that Christ bled & died for has been systematically squeezed. Our evil adversary wants true believers out of the picture, only to replace them with a false church & false ministers, preaching a false Gospel. However, Jesus emphatically & enthusiastically told His disciples & us by extension that he would build his Church & that the gates of hell would not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18). No one that I know would argue with The Lord on that point, but some have acted as if it’s perfectly acceptable for them to add their own particular extensions onto the temple of which Jesus Christ alone is the one & only foundation & cornerstone.

The Apostle Paul warned the saints in Corinth along these lines, saying to them, “For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him” (2^ndCorinthians 11:4). Again, Paul tells the saints in Galatia, “ I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.  But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.  But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.  For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ ” (Galatians 1:6-12).

Have we taken our eyes & ears away from The Gospel of Christ & set them on personalities, on their oral delivery, on their tall tales, wealth & on their charm? Have these distractions led us away from the path of the truth & into the way of error? Have we embraced damnable heresy because it was more attractive than biblical orthodoxy? I believe that a significant number of us may very well have, or are in grave danger of doing so. As Paul said when writing to the Colossians, “And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words … Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” (Colossians 2:4&8).

As well as our observations concerning the path that certain parts of The Church is on, we have also to consider those particular individuals who are leading the way along said path. In this respect, we have to look very conscientiously at biblical leadership, in both Testaments. The writer of Hebrews says, “For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins: Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins. And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron” (Hebrews 5:1-4).

Notice the distinction that the writer makes here. He says for men, not by men. Paul makes the same distinction, saying, “Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)” (Galatians 1:1) & again, “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope; ”(1^st Timothy 1:1).

Paul tells Rome & us by extension, “[that] whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4). He tells Corinth, “Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.  Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1^stCorinthians 10:11-12). As we move through The Law, The Prophets, The Writings, The Gospels & Apostolic Doctrine, we will have a clear picture of God’s dealings with men through the ages, both naturally & supernaturally. Bear with me a little.

Do you remember Moses shepherding Jethro’s flock in the backside of the desert. There he was, dressed in his immaculate, pristine white suit, reflecting the glorious sunlight, followed by his obedient, indoctrinated sheep. Perhaps they were singing gently in a whisper before the white suited Moses took of the fat, wool & of the milk of the flock to satisfy his personal needs. Suddenly, there was a familiar sight in the wilderness. A burning bush. The quartz crystals that form part of the landscape had reflected the sun’s rays onto a dry area of shrubbery & it was set ablaze. This was a common occurrence. The bush burned & it burned & it continued to burn, but was not destroyed. Moses decided to take a look. I imagine he straightened his tie, brushed the dust from his glistening lapels & checked the time on his diamond encrusted gold watch.

⁴ And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. ⁵ And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground (Exodus 3:4-5).

Moses must have carefully removed his hand made shoes & laid them to one side. After making sure that his portion of fat, wool & milk was secured, Moses hears more from the unexpected voice.

⁶ Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. ⁷ And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; ⁸ And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ⁹ Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. ¹⁰ Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt (Exodus 3:6-10).

A shiver must have raced down Moses’ spine, along with several beads of sweat. He pops his designer sunglasses on against the glare. Afraid to see God. Oh, if only more men were fearful to encounter YHWH, The living God. Instead, modern men recount their apparent visions & experiences with The Lord as if they had popped out on a Friday night to grab a portion of fish & chips. Anyway, I digress. Perhaps this event could be turned to some advantage, once it had been embellished a little & sprinkled with humour & subliminal cues to raise much needed funds. Moses takes a deep breath, ready to shoot the breeze with The King of the universe & confidently assert himself because of his importance. What a story he is going to have for the sheep when he gets back to them, as well as Jethro & the girls. Good goshamighty!!

¹¹ And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? ¹² And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain. ¹³ And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? ¹⁴ And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you. ¹⁵ And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations (Exodus 3:11-15).

The Lord goes on to tell Moses where to go, who to speak to, what to say & what will happen thereafter. What an event was about to unfold. What a story was about to be told.

¹⁰ And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue (Exodus 4:10).

¹² And Moses spake before the Lord, saying, Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me, who am of uncircumcised lips? (Exodus 6:12).

³⁰ And Moses said before the Lord, Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me? (Exodus 6:30).

Forgive my poetic licence, but we in the modern church would not be interested in listening to Moses unless he was pithy, funny & a bit of a raconteur. I don’t imagine for one minute that Moses went to the elders or indeed to Pharaoh in his Sunday best, with the arrogance of some of the gnostic peacocks who have the front & audacity to call themselves ministers today. No, Moses had to go back to the very place he had run from, with a murder charge hanging over his head. Moses had to go back to the people who had suffered under the cosh while he had been spoilt with the very best that Egypt had to offer. Moses had to go back, perhaps with shame, definitely with humility & with an absolute faith in God. No glitz, no glamour, no lights, no camera & only the action that God can bring. He had to be the real deal. This man was no dog in the manger.

Do you remember Isaiah. Perfectly manicured hair. Stiff collar. Tweed jacket. Razor sharp seams in his trousers & Ostrich skin boots. He must have cut a fine figure as he glided through Judah, flame thrower in hand, receiving the word of The Lord. As you go through the 1^st 5 chapters of the book that bears his name, it’s quite a read. I imagine he received his message while looking down his nose & over the top of his glasses. But then we come to chapter 6.

¹In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. ² Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. ³ And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. ⁴ And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. ⁵ Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. ⁶ Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: ⁷ And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. ⁸ Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me (Isaiah 6:1-8).

Again, my approach is tongue in cheek, but I repeat the question that I asked earlier. Have we taken our eyes & ears away from The Gospel of Christ & set them on personalities, on their oral delivery, on their tall tales, wealth & on their charm? Have these distractions led us away from the path of the truth & into the way of error? Have we embraced damnable heresy because it was more attractive than biblical orthodoxy? Gone are the days when men will recognise their innate inability to perform any task that The Lord sets them, without Him. No amount of natural ability, slick delivery or well-oiled vocabulary will ever take the place of God’s hand on a life turned over to Him. As I have said before & will doubtless say again & again, it is better for us as individuals to say woe is me, than to have The Lord say, woe to you.

Chapter 1 of Isaiah begins with the words, “The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah” (Isaiah 1:1). Chapter 2 begins with similar words. “The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:1). This is before he began to prophesy & make one of the largest contributions to the Hebrew Scriptures. This preceded him saying anything or seeing The Lord. This is before he uttered a single word. Isaiah was humbled by the highness & holiness of God, in a way that few of us are today. Isaiah was no dog in the manger.

I could go on & talk about the prophet Jeremiah, the prophet Ezekiel or the prophet Daniel, et cetera. All of them had genuine encounters with The Lord. None of them had popularity, personality or professionalism lighting their pathway. There was no material affluence or human power greasing the wheels of their respective ministries. All they had was The Lord & their choice to obey His will & His voice.

Malachi brings The Law, The Prophets & The Writings to a close. Before the emergence of John The Baptist & The Lord Jesus Christ, there is what I call a Divine silence, said to have lasted approximately 400 years. Those better versed than I in theological matters call this the inter-testamental or deuterocanonical period & it is during this time that those who inspired the title of this article emerge. Due to my lack of a formal historical education, allow me to quote from some supporting documents.

“^{The time between the Testaments was one of ferment and change — a time of the realignment of traditional power blocs and the passing of a Near Eastern cultural tradition that had been dominant for almost 3,000 years. In biblical history, the approximately 400 years that separate the time of Nehemiah from the birth of Christ are known as the inter-testamental period (c. 433 – 5 BC). Sometimes called the “silent” years because of the absence of prophetic revelation, they were anything but silent in terms of historical significance and cultural change. The events of these years would shape the world of the New Testament. With the Babylonian exile, Israel ceased to be an independent nation and became a minor territory in a succession of larger empires. With Alexander the Great’s acquisition of the Holy Land (332 BC), a new and more insidious threat to Israel emerged. Alexander was committed to the creation of a world united by Greek language and culture, a policy, called Hellenization, had a dramatic impact on the Jews. At Alexander’s death in 323 BC, the empire he won was divided among his generals. Two of them  founded dynasties — the Ptolemies of Egypt and the Seleucids in Syria and Mesopotamia — that would contend for control of the Holy Land for over a century. The rule of the Ptolemies was considerate of Jewish religious sensitivities, but in 198 BC the Seleucids took control and paved the way for one of the most heroic periods in Jewish history. The early Seleucid years were largely a continuation of the tolerant rule of the Ptolemies, but Antiochus IV Epiphanes (whose title means “God manifest”) changed that when he attempted to consolidate his fading empire through a policy of radical Hellenization. While a segment of the Jewish aristocracy had already adopted Greek ways, many Jews were outraged. Antiochus’s atrocities were aimed at the eradication of Jewish religion. He prohibited some of the central elements of Jewish practice, attempted to destroy all copies of the Torah (the Pentateuch) and required offerings to the Greek god Zeus. His crowning outrage was the erection of a statue of Zeus and the sacrificing of a pig in the Jerusalem temple itself. Opposition to Antiochus was led by Mattathias, an elderly villager from a priestly family, and his five sons: Judas (called “Maccabeus”), Jonathan, Simon, John and Eleazar. Mattathias destroyed a Greek altar established in his village, Modein, and killed the man Antiochus sent as his emissary. This triggered a 24-year war (166 – 142 BC) called the Maccabean revolt which resulted in the independence of Judah until the Romans took control in 63 BC. Pompey, the general who subdued the East for Rome, took Jerusalem after a three-month siege of the temple area, massacring priests in the performance of their duties and entering the Most Holy Place. This sacrilege began Roman rule in a way that Jews could neither forgive nor forget. The Judaism of Jesus’ day was, to a large extent, the result of changes that came about in response to the pressures of the inter-testamental period. The Diaspora (dispersion) of Israel begun in the exile accelerated during these years until a writer of the day could say that Jews filled every land and sea. Jews outside the Holy Land, cut off from the temple, concentrated their religious life in the study of the Torah and the life of the synagogue. The missionaries of the early church began their Gentile ministries among the Diaspora, using the Greek translation of the Old Testament (the Septuagint). During the Babylonian exile, Israel was cut off from the temple, divested of nationhood and surrounded by pagan religious practices. The nation’s faith was threatened. Under these circumstances, the exiles turned their religious focus from what they had lost to what they retained — the Torah and the belief that they were God’s  people. They concentrated on the law rather than nationhood, on personal piety rather than sacramental rectitude and on prayer as an acceptable replacement for the sacrifices denied to them. When they returned from the exile, they brought with them this new form of religious expression, as well as the synagogue (its center), and Judaism became a faith that could be practiced wherever the Torah could be carried. The emphases on personal piety and a relationship with God, which characterized synagogue worship, not only helped preserve Judaism but also prepared the way for the Christian gospel. In the Holy Land, the Greek world made its greatest impact through the party of the Sadducees. Made up of aristocrats, it became the temple party. Because of their position, the Sadducees had a vested interest in the status quo. Relatively few in number, they wielded disproportionate political power and controlled the high priesthood. They rejected all religious writings except the Torah, as well as any doctrine (such as resurrection from the dead) not found in those five books. As the party of the synagogue, the Pharisees strove to reinterpret the law. They built a “hedge” around it to enable Jews to live righteously before God in a world that had changed drastically since the days of Moses. Although they were comparatively few in number, the Pharisees enjoyed the support of the  people and influenced popular opinion as well as national policy. They were the only party to survive the destruction of the temple in AD 70 and were the spiritual progenitors of modern Judaism. An almost forgotten Jewish sect (but referred to by Philo and Josephus) until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Essenes were a small, separatist group that grew out of the conflicts of the Maccabean age. Like the Pharisees, they stressed strict legal observance, but they considered the temple priesthood corrupt and rejected much of the temple ritual and sacrificial system. Though they are mentioned by several ancient writers, the precise nature of the Essenes is still not certain, though it is widely held that the Qumran community that produced the Dead Sea Scrolls was probably an Essene group. Because they were convinced that they were the true remnant of Israel, these Qumran sectarians had separated themselves from Judaism at large and devoted themselves to personal purity and preparation for the final war between the “Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness.” They practiced an apocalyptic faith, looking back to the contributions of their previous leader, known as “Teacher of Righteousness,” and forward to the coming of two Messiahs: a priestly one from the line of Aaron and a royal one from the line of David. In the Jewish War of AD 66 – 73, the community at Qumran was destroyed, and the Essenes dropped from history. The experience of the nation and people of Israel between the writing of Malachi in the Old Testament and Matthew in the New Testament set the stage for the fulfillment of the coming of the long-prophesied Messiah.}”

^{Drawn from the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible.}

Let’s fast forward to the time of Christ. The Sadducees had established themselves with a few quid & were busy running The Temple, for profit. The Pharisees championed The written & oral Law & their reputation for looking down on the people was very firmly intact. The Herodians were pretty well cosied up to & sympathetic with Herod, Antipas. The Scribes recorded everything meticulously & oversaw legal matters. When Jesus stood up in The Temple to read, it was not a chance event. The Torah portion due to be read on that day & at that time in the Synagogue, was from the book of Isaiah. God makes no mistakes & His timing is second to none. It is perfect!!                                                                                                                                                                                                                

¹⁴ And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. ¹⁵ And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. ¹⁶ And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. ¹⁷ And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, ¹⁸ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, ¹⁹ To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. ²⁰ And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. ²¹ And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. ²² And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son? … ³² And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power (Luke 4:14-22&32).

We see the same phenomenon when The Lord had finished teaching what we refer to as the sermon on the mount (Matthew 7:29-29). With the Jews under the heel of imperial Rome & significant parts of the religious leadership in their pocket, the regular people had become meat in the sandwich. When Jesus began His public ministry, it was abundantly clear what His mission was (Luke 5:27-32, Matthew 9:35-38). It was also an answer to the prayer Moses prayed before he died (Numbers 27:15-17).

⁶ Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. ⁷ And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. ⁸ Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? ⁹ Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? ¹⁰ Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? ¹¹ How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? ¹² Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees (Matthew 16:6-12).

The Pharisees, the Sadducees & their doctrine in particular, set them at odds with The Lord Jesus. His ministry was always diametrically opposed to theirs, with few exceptions & in their pride & arrogance they lifted themselves up above the common people, who heard Christ gladly (Mark 12:37). In the modern church, do we too have those whose self-importance, haughtiness & blind ambition cause The Lord to set His face against them & give grace to the humble? (James 4:6) Jesus constantly warned the religious leaders of His day that they were on thin ice & that they were rubbish at skating. Sadly, this is also true of parts of His Church.

 

End of Part One

 

copyright Ó by david Samuel Parkins mmxxiv all rights reserved.

no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the author, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is presented & without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

 

The Axe OF

The Apostles

 

-2-

 

dominionism by divinisation 

 

Those of us within Pentecostalism, dipping our toes into charismatic waters, were told by our dear pastors that, ‘..whenever things become more important & more worthy of pursuit than The Lord Himself, we are in trouble.’ Well, our generation was in trouble & our leaders knew it. During that early period, we very stupidly set out to find our anointing & walk in it. Develop our God kind of faith & exercise it. Access the key to God’s power & wield it. Although we didn’t know it at the time, dominionism was the bit that we had clenched firmly between our teeth. We had been convinced that it was God’s will & God’s way forward for all believers to be moving in supernatural, miracle working power, constantly. That had become our goal. Some had swapped reading God’s Word for reading books by authors who had laid claim to the principles, keys & steps necessary to release the …..blah blah blah. You know what I’m saying to you. Despite all of our reading, no matter how many tape series we bought & listened to & regardless of the countless services we attended, there was no talk of submission to Christ or biblical discipleship. Dominion was the thing. Isaiah says, ‘Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? Or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? As if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood. Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire.’ (Isaiah 10:15-16). I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that there is something oh so appealing about dominion theology. I use the term theology loosely here because when viewed in the light of Scripture, the tenets of dominionism are thoroughly man centred. This is nothing new & if you’ll bear with me, you’ll soon see this for yourselves.  

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth (Genesis 1:26-28). 

Here we have the first recorded instance in which The Lord speaks of mankind having any dominion. This concerned the natural world. However, for most dominionists, who believe in a restorative rhetoric, these verses from Genesis is where they’ll always begin. By the way, I don’t know any believers within dominionism’s systems, who are strict vegetarians. Just sayin’. 

This dominion of the natural world was not to be the wielding of Divine power, control & influence, but rather, it was to facilitate man’s role as representative custodian. If dominionism’s first premise is wrong at best & blatantly false at worst, what does that say about its progression? If your doctrine is off, then you are off & if you have no formal & fundamental doctrine, you’re in freefall. This is where dominionism & its many manifestations dwell. Enter the charismatic wild geese of circa 1948-1952. 

Among Pentecostals at that time, there were still lines not to be crossed. Not so with up & coming charismatics. We’d heard of The New Order of The Latter Rain & William Marrion Branham. Many of the anecdotes that men like Kenneth Hagin had shared highlighted this man’s apparent prophetic ministry, but his newsletters were comprised of his sermons set out in verses as if they were Scripture. Ding-a-ling-a-ling, alarm bells ring. Pentecostals were having none of that. No matter how anointed a man was, he was just a man. Furthermore, because of Branham’s subsequent heretical doctrines & revelations, he was held at arm’s length. Rightly so. To this day there are those who still regard him as God in the flesh. 

This New Order of the Latter Rain is not to be confused with The Latter Rain movement of North Carolina & Tennessee during the 1880s, under the ministry of R. G. Spurling. This movement is well worth some study, but sadly, Spurling’s significance to Pentecostal history has long since been forgotten or ignored. Latterly, no pun intended, the work of George Warnock, who was a close friend of Branham’s, on The Feast of Tabernacles, went some way in cementing the movement’s leanings towards biblical typology as a means of interpreting their role in the coming revival & Kingdom restoration to & through them. Theologically however, this will very well be the undoing of the movement, simply because Jesus has not fulfilled several Messianic prophecies concerning Himself & won’t do so until His 2^nd coming, including typology within The Feast of Tabernacles which speaks to The Millennium. Consequently, the core Doctrine of The Rapture has been both decried & denied by many modern Latter Rainers. 

Aspects of The Holiness Movement, which preceded The Latter Rain, had made inroads into Pentecostalism though, because Pentecostals love holiness. Dominion for Pentecostals, went as far as demons, disease & of course the flesh, but not world domination. This idea came later. For Latter Rainers, their view of Pentecostals & Holiness adherents was that they were representative of the former rain, which had to all intents & purposes dried up. The Latter Rain was where it was at now. Similarly, during this period of time, Charismatics were soaking up Latter Rain’s experiential offerings & had cultivated a clutch of leaders who would absorb its teachings & practises seamlessly into the Charismatic wave. Branham’s shadow straddled both spheres of influence. It continues to this day. 

He had been the darling of The Voice of Healing movement during the 1950s & because of the similarities between Latter Rain & Charismatic expression, belief & practise, it wasn’t difficult to introduce & assimilate Branham into the mainstream of Charismania. In the eyes of both movements, God was restoring, renewing & advancing His agenda in a tangible way. This is one of the ultimate goals of Dominionism. This is divinisation; exalting something that is clearly man-made, to Divine status. 

The Latter Rain didn’t stand still & even today it remains in a state of flux. This movement wasn’t directly defined by its titles, by its leaders or indeed by its woeful failures. This movement was defined by its mandate. Whether it’s known as Joel’s Army, Post Millennialism, Manifest Sons of God, Reconstructionism, Restorationism, Kingdom Now, or more recently the New Apostolic Reformation, the mandate remains the same. Not only Dominion by Divine Design, but also by Divinisation. 

There are any number of beliefs & practices that can be pointed to in order to identify this particular movement as a fast moving train wreck. However, by far the greatest indicator of the movement’s destination is its supreme lack of adherence to fundamental Doctrine. It completely disappears. Within this belief system, experience is prized more highly than anything else & certainly more highly than the Canon of Scripture that we have. Divinisation occurs when man decides that whatever he has to say takes precedence over whatever God has already said & sadly this is the case in point. This is more often than not disguised as the prophetic. 

It takes a certain amount of daring, stupidity & or audacity to make some of the bold claims that the leadership of this movement have, with nothing to show for their brazenness. They write their own narrative. They make their own rules. They twist whatever they can & discard whatever they can’t. They are by far the most dangerous threat to The Gospel right now because they are operating within The Church. 

But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works (2^nd Corinthians 11:12-15). Their boasting is not good. 

This hasn’t happened overnight & what’s more, we have allowed it to happen. These men have cosied up to us as new Apostles & Prophets, often with more assumed apostolic umph than those who have gone before. They are Super Apostles, careering through The Body of Christ like pied pipers, sweeping young & old along with their sweet tunes, glossy presentations & thus saith The Lords. Some of us ought to know better & some of us do. 

You can be sure that all of the bells & whistles apportioned to this new movement are nothing more than cheap window dressing that covers a supreme lack of substance throughout. Look at its pedigree! This movement is nothing more or less than a Frankenstein’s monster comprised of different cherry picked parts, all thrown together & animated by a false spirit. The whole thing even has bolts in its neck! 

As we will see, the speed with which this movement has gathered momentum is indicative of the apathy within The Church. I’m not suggesting that we put on a show. I’m suggesting that we feed the hungry souls in our fellowships with the truth we have come to know from the Apostolic Doctrine we’ve received. I was once there. I was once seduced by the bright lights & candy floss. However, the glass is always half full & followers are always empty. 

For Latter Rainers, God is always about to do something & after they’ve been systematically hypnotised, mesmerised, anaesthetised, desensitised & mollified, they will be discarded as surplus to requirements. Their donations will always come in handy though. The  movement exists to perpetuate itself until it successfully evolves into its next manifestation. 

I say again, The Latter Rain didn’t stand still & even today it remains in a state of flux. This movement isn’t directly defined by its titles, by its leaders or indeed by its woeful failures. This movement is defined by its mandate. It is the extent to which the movement’s theology is emphasised in any particular church or fellowship, vision or doctrine, statement of faith or core values that will tell you how far this wasting theodemic disease has spread. 

We will take a good look at the who’s who within the current New Order of these folk, as well as the doctrine they espouse & their progress towards world domination for Christ. This is going to be interesting. In our next meeting we will examine dominionism as decree or declaration, as well as identify some of those who have transformed themselves into apostles of Christ. This movement has already begun to creak and wane under its own weight & eventually it will collapse. Brethren, do not remain within it or be a part of it when the whole thing comes crashing down.

 

 

 

 

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