CHOICES AND DECISIONS

Karen and I attended a church some time ago and at the end of the service they planned to do a baptism, but before they conducted the baptism the young couple was asked to come to the front of the church and was read the church’s denominational covenant that they had to swear an oath of allegiance before they could be a member in good standing. The young couple, I guess they were married, stood there with the old “deer in the headlights look” as the leader read the requirements of the covenant. You could see the couple had no clue to what was being read and it was even clearer they had no comprehension to the gravity of the moment, yet they made a choice and a decision (maybe blindly out of emotion) that greatly impacted not only on their physical lives, but also on their spiritual life. Often we make choices and decisions out from our emotion which is extremely dangerous in God. The covenant’s introduction paragraph ends with these words, “we now give ourselves (Jesus never did this) to one another by the will of God in this solemn covenant” which is something James (who was the first leader of the Church in Jerusalem) strictly forbids, “But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.” (James 5:12) Jesus said this way, “Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: 34But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: 35Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. 36Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. 37But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.” (Matthew 5:33-37) I guess these folks missed these verses. The covenant goes on with six more short detailed paragraphs of requirement and then ends with “To this end we agree to co-operate in the promotion of denominational institutions and ministries, the support of the local church, and the evangelization of the world.” Whatever happened to the promotion of the Gospel message in integrity and simplicity? Jesus said, “whosoever will come,” (is that not all inclusive and simple enough), but here in this denomination the local leadership and their higher authority too makes choices and decisions like who will be allowed to join their fraternity based on certain preconceived man-made criteria. My friend I am glad God does not have things arranged like this; God’s membership in His church (Jesus said, “I will built my church”) is universal and open to anyone who loves Him enough to learn about Him and His ways. Those who have accepted His free gift of salvation, through grace, not by good works as this denomination preaches nor by written rules and requirements that gives the façade of clean hands and a clean heart, but in reality they are bound by the keeping of the law which no man can keep. God does not require our signature on a piece of paper or a man-made written covenant, but wants our obedience in allowing Him to write His laws on our heart and yes my friend this too is a choice and decision we all must make. Now the people at this church Karen and I dearly love they are near and dear to our heart so please do not misunderstand me here; we all make choices and decisions that impact our spiritual lives to great degrees and most Christians have no spiritual wisdom and insight to take such decisions and choices. As a matter of fact we can only go as far in God as our surrender to God will allow and our surrender to God is based on our choices and decisions we daily make. I could not believe the requirements, the yoke that this denomination was laying on this young couple. I cannot keep this covenant the leadership in this denomination cannot keep this covenant it is impossible to keep this covenant so why does this denomination require new people to make a solemn oath before God? Oh I know fear and manipulation to control their people, just like all denominations. Now I guess by now you can tell I am not a big fan of denominations, well I will even go further and say I believe denominations are the biggest obstacle to true revival in the world. I can tell you sad story after sad story around the world how some denominations have literally killed people for land and money. The Body of Christ is not one body one Spirit, one baptism, we are filled with division, strife, wrath, jealousy, arrogance, and even one-up-manship within the Body of Christ. Paul tells us, “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” (Ephesians 4:2-6) Is this what we see today? No just drive down the road in your car the landscape is dotted with denominational church after denominational church. Are they are right? Do they all agree? No of course not. Do we really think God is going to bless us individually, as a local Body, and our nation if we His children cannot get this right? I think not. As I was watching this mockery the LORD brought to mind Acts Chapter 15, so I turned there and read, “But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses. 6And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter. 7And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. 8And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; 9And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. 10Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?” (Acts 15:5-10) Here the Pharisees where trying to yoke the disciples and the people with things they themselves (just like today) could not keep. Peter was led by the Holy Spirit and put this wrong thinking in its place, but through the years it has slowly crept back into church leadership. Paul addressed this subtle, ungodly attitude, “Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, 21(Touch not; taste not; handle not; 22Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?23Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.” (Colossians 2:20-23) And guess what we make choices and decisions to believe these verses or ignore them. Leadership in many denominations have seen the power, control, and authority that can be gained to fulfil a denominational teaching and doctrinal position while yoking the Brethren and to hell with the truth. There is no need for denominations today. Why does it have to be a Baptist, Church of God, Methodist, Assembly of God, Lutheran, Pentecostal, non-denominational (the list goes on and on) church? Why can it just be a place where people gather to worship God in Spirit and truth? What service or ability to people does a denomination provide that a local body of believers led by the Holy Spirit cannot provide? Power in numbers, power equals money, and money equals more power, but Jesus said, “I have no power except for what the Father give me.” Religious organizations, traditions, and rituals are evil my friend sometimes far more than Satan. Many of my pastor friends tell me David you should not come down so hard on denominations you will not be invited to come and speak at their churches, well shall I lie to please men? Paul addressed this question, “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.” (Galatians 1:10) How can I please men by following all of their rules and requirements when I have tasted and saw the goodness of God being led by the Holy Spirit. I do not have to worry what man will say because I am more concerned about what God will say. Did you know when you justify yourself before man you make man your judge? Jesus never did this because He was led by the Spirit. I teach by the Spirit so I always find religious folks reject my words, but those that have been birthed from above, those who are of the Spirit of God know my words are true and value my teaching. Funny how spiritual people can only be touched by spiritual people, but sadly most Christians are so use to humanistic sermons they cannot recognize the Spirit of God when spoken. I was taught by my teacher Charles Haun we must go for the heart when sharing the word of God and if need be offend the listener. It is far better they be offended and learn something about God than to lie to them. Jesus was great at this. We do not want to be humble and led by the Holy Spirit because we like to please men more than God. The requirement to be led by the Spirit of God is NOT to be led by man; this too is a choice and decision we all must make. Did you know a humble man knows another humble man? Here we have a choice and decision to make, to be humble or not and to be led by the Spirit of God or not. We cannot be led by both and it is our choice. When we are led by the Holy Spirit we are able to see our opportunities in God. There is wonderful story in the Gospel of Mark that really speaks of this. In Mark 10 we read, “And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. 49And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. 50And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. 51And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. 52And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.” (Mark 10:48-52) Here blind Bartimaeus had a choice to make and he did not have a lot of time to make it. Actually Bartimaeus had only one opportunity because Jesus was on His way to the cross and would not be passing by this way again. In spite of all of the religious and well respected folks in town telling him to be quiet, “he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. 49And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called.” Can you imagine the Scripture says, “And Jesus stood still.” Oh that Jesus would stand still for us! Blind Bartimaeus was not following a religious covenant of men, but reached out to Jesus in His need, in Spirit and truth. My friend when we make the right choice and when we make correct decisions all heaven takes note and God moves on our behalf, but when we get caught up by making wrong choices and bad decisions in religion and denominationalism of this day there is not much God can do for us. God’s ability and power being active in our lives is not based on God’s ability and power, but on our choices and the decisions we make. Just ask blind Bartimaeus he could have followed the crowd and the religious leaders of his day, but he did not and now he sees or just like with the blind man in John Chapter 9, “These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. 23Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him. 24Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner. 25 He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.” (John 9:24-25) I wonder if we would be willing to be put out of a church to tell the truth, the choice and decision is ours. The difference between following man (religion and denominations) and God is seen in the manifested power of God. The difference in our lives is our choice and decision. Written by David Stahl