We live in a time where education and affiliations have become the mainline way of the Church, we seek The Tree of Knowledge (Education) more than the Tree of Life (Jesus), and this can be seen in the Church today.
We need to return to what Christ intended for us, and that was to have an intimate relationship with Him. We don't need more Theological Government, we need the Triune power of Father God, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost).
The idea of Education began in the Garden of Eden when satan deceived Eve into believing that if she ate of the forbidden fruit that she would become as knowledgeable as God (or God like). Well, I guess somethings never change.
Genesis 3:
The Fall of Man
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "
4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
Don't get me wrong, I am not against Biblical Education (or Bible College), I am against the God replacement Theology (whether voluntarily or involuntarily), where knowledge replaces the intimate relationship with God and the Holy Spirit.
I believe that when we pour ourselves into Church governmental structure, which is taught about in Theological Education, instead of pouring ourselves out before the governmental Triune Head of the Kingdom of God, we have a very serious problem called - Desensitization to the Holy Spirit and God's directing. We shut ourselves off from God with our knowledge, exactly as Adam and Eve did.
As the account goes in Genesis, Adam and Eve had a close communion with God and life in the Garden was perfect. Adam walked and talked with God side-by-side, in other words, he had an intimate relationship with God, up until the forbidden fruit incident when Man's total existence changed, causing life to not be the same since. Now we can all testify to that!
The problem is, we still eat mostly of the Fruit of Knowledge, thinking that we can be as knowledgeable as Jesus, instead of being intimate with Jesus.
People! We need to stop just reading the Bible and start reading and living the Bible, and this can only take place when we are completely sold out to Christ.
The Holy Spirit comforts, teaches, and guides us in all spiritual truths of God, we cannot understand this with our Human minds, because it is spiritually discerned.
Matthew 16 : 13-19:
Peter's Confession of Christ
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
14 They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
15 "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
17 Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
1 Corinthians 2 : 10-14:
10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.
13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
So if this is spiritually discerned, then why are we still trying to physically (using our brain) discern it by knowledge?
Let's put many of today's leaders and churches into perspective using the Bible:
We will begin with Saul, who was then called Paul the Apostle after his awakening and transformation.
Saul was extensively trained in the Torah and The Law, he was counted among the Sadducees and Pharisees of his day. Saul's primary commission was to chase down the true Believers in Jesus (and of the Church) and murder them or jail them, he was the Sanhedrin's hitman of The Law. This continued until the day Saul met God on the road to Damascus.
After Saul's transformation, and now called Paul the Apostle, Paul writes:
Galatians 1 : 10:
Paul Called by God
11 I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. 12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
All of Paul's Torah Education and study of The Law amounted to only knowledge and blindness (literally) on his part. This account of Paul can be found in Acts chapter 9 of the Bible.
So what is the remnants of all this?
The saddest part...
In many churches today, we have leaders much like Saul, who are well educated in the Bible, hunting down the people, who are sold out to Jesus and guided by the Holy Spirit in their church, and getting rid of them. They do this because these people, in their minds, challenge their authority and the governmental structure of the church.
This is not correct. If these people, who are considered a threat, are in deep counsel with Jesus and the Holy Ghost, they edify the Church, giving warning, insight, and support to the leadership. They would follow the structure of the Church as written in the Bible, submitting to the authority of the leader God has placed them under. If these leaders relied on deep counsel with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, instead of their knowledge and teaching, they would know this.
The only winning combo is:
God the Father, Lord Jesus the Son, and the Holy Ghost (Holy Spirit).
May God Bless,
Christopher Moss
I am a vessel of the Holy Spirit.
A vessel is useless unless it is filled, and a vessel can do nothing as of itself, so as this vessel is poured out, I pen its contents as it flows. - Christopher Moss