I had a discussion recently with a friend.\u00a0 During the course of talking about several different passages in the Bible, and some admittedly negative comments that I made concerning several things that are taught as “doctrine”, but which are in fact contrary to His Word, I heard the following question:<\/p>\n
“Mark, aren’t you angry <\/em>at the church (or at least some<\/em> of them)?”<\/p>\n On the spur of the moment, I gave a somewhat mealy-mouthed response.\u00a0 After all, it’s not ALL ‘churches’ which deny so much of Scripture, mix the clean with the unclean and fail to teach the difference, and serve Caesar rather than YHVH.\u00a0 And certainly there are lots of sheep who don’t deserve to be led astray.\u00a0 But, upon further reflection, however, what I should have said is,<\/p>\n “Absolutely.”<\/p>\n It’s not the fault of those sheep that they are being led astray.\u00a0 And sometimes (remember that famous “stumbling block” reference — which may itself by now have become a major stumbling block?) people who have been deceived for so long simply aren’t READY for the Truth.\u00a0 Those who won’t tolerate milk are probably not ready for the “meat” of the Word, to use another familiar metaphor.<\/p>\n But the indictment of Hosea should not be ignored.\u00a0 “My people<\/em>“, He said, “are <\/em>destroyed <\/strong>for lack of knowledge<\/em>.”\u00a0\u00a0 And if you think that critique is harsh – try reading the rest of the verse, for those who reject <\/em>such knowledge.\u00a0 (1)\u00a0 It’s the oh-so-apropos prophecy of Jeremiah 16:19, however, which seems to get me in the most trouble:<\/p>\n ——————————–<\/p>\n (1) Hosea 4:6<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The “Pharisees” were an archetype. A ‘church’ which serves ‘another master’ and claims authority to rewrite His Word is not “His”. Continue reading
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