Reproach of Men

This lesson is probably misnamed somewhat. But perhaps not, as it addresses the issue of reproof and our attitude about it. Nonetheless, any society, any nation is made up of its people. Hence, its character is defined by its people. If its people will not bear reproof, will not bear correction, then there is little that can be done for that society, that nation.

This lesson is in two parts.

Part One:

Part Two:

For those wishing to download the file or the podcast does not work, the following link to the mp3 files.

Setting A Society Up For Failure – Part 1

Setting A Society Up For Failure – Part 2

This addresses being internally a doer of the word, and not just a hearer of the word. Far too many individuals who claim Christ are doers of the word only outwardly – the word never penetrating their heart where it must go to do any good at all.

I pray it is profitable for you.

For those who cannot use the embedded player, wish to use a different player, or want to save the file, the following link is provided:

Doers vs Hearers of the Word

In Christ,

Paul W. Davis

The following audio is about those sins that we all harbor, and consistently fail to acknowledge as sins. Rather, we tend to justify these and excuse them as being the fault of those who offended us.

May you profit by the message.

In Christ,

Paul W. Davis

If the podcast does not work for you, or you wish to download the file, you can access it by the following link:

Our Unacknowledged Sins

This is the first in a series addressing those who profess Christ and consider themselves Americans first and foremost. The point of this series is to educate everyone (not just born-again believers) on what the Scripture actually states concerning a proper attitude toward authority and toward those around us, both the froward and the good. As always, my prayer is that everyone learn what is the heart and mind of the LORD God. — In Christ, Paul W. Davis

On August 16th, Steve Anderson, pastor of Faithful Word Baptist Church of Tempe, Arizona delivered a message in which he plainly stated the following:

“Yeah, God appointed him to destroy this country for the wickedness of the United States of America. God appointed him because that’s what our country has turned into. That’s who we deserve as a president.

But let me tell you something: I don’t love Barack Obama. I don’t respect Barack Obama. I don’t obey Barack Obama. And I’d like Barack Obama to melt like a snail tonight. Because he needs to recompense, he needs to reap what he’s sown.

You see, any Christian will tell you that someone who commits murder should get the death penalty. Because that’s what it says in Genesis Chapter 9, that’s what it says in the Mosaic Law, that’s what it teaches us throughout the Bible. ‘Who so sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.’ ‘From the image of God created he Man.’

And when Barack Obama is gonna push his partial birth abortion, his salty saline solution abortion, hey, he deserves to be punished for what he’s done. I’m not going to pray for God to bless Barack Obama. This is my prayer tonight to Barack Obama.”¹

And again:

“… And yet you’re going to tell me that I’m supposed to pray for the socialist devil, murderer, infanticide, who wants to see young children and he wants to see babies killed through abortion and partial-birth abortion and all these different things — you’re gonna tell me I’m supposed to pray for God to give him a good lunch tomorrow while he’s in Phoenix, Arizona.

Nope. I’m not gonna pray for his good. I’m going to pray that he dies and goes to hell. When I go to bed tonight, that’s what I’m going to pray. And you say, ‘Are you just saying that?’ No. When I go to bed tonight, Steven L. Anderson is going to pray for Barack Obama to die and go to hell.

You say, ‘Why would you do that?’ That our country could be saved.”²

The above raises the questions:

Is it really our right and prerogative as born-again children of God, to pray that someone die and go to hell?

Is it Scripturally correct for a “Baptist pastor” to call for the LORD to smite President Barack Obama, and then use Psalm 58 for his justification?

Should we also openly call for judgement against this nation – or individuals in it?

Should we claim that the political leaders of this country are part of the “rulers of darkness” in this world?

What should we, as born-again believers in Christ, do with respect to situations such as this?

What should be our attitude and behavior be?

Without a doubt, we live in a most difficult time; without the wisdom of the LORD, we will not provide a right and proper witness to this country and its people. Without the wisdom of the LORD, we will end up subverting the will of the LORD in the things we say and do.

This series of articles is going to look into the issue of this pastor’s words, which spring out of his heart and mind, and will weigh them against the Scripture — the same King James Bible he uses.

To be continued . . .

1. http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/gospel-hate-arizona-pastor-steve-and and on Youtube↩
2. ibid↩

The following is the June 21st message from the Morning Service. It addresses the nature of Christ in the believer and how we often ignore what that really means.

For those who cannot use the embedded player, want to use a different player, or simply download the file, please use the link below.

The Nature of Christ in the Believer

In Christ,

Paul W. Davis

The embedded MP3 file was presented in Ebenezer Baptist Mission’s Sunday morning services during Bible Study on June 7^th. I pray you find it edifying and a cause for reflection on how we conduct ourselves as members of a New Testament church. If you are born-again in Christ, and not a member of a New Testament church, I pray it gives you a better understanding as to how a New Testament church works. After all, it is the will of the Lord Jesus Christ that you enter into covenant with Him for life-long service — which is found only within the local, visible, New Testament church.

The lesson addresses a very thorny issue in every New Testament church — that of opposition within the church. My prayer is that fundamental, unaffiliated Baptists begin to take a more balanced and Scriptural approach in dealing with this single issue. In so doing, our churches will be stronger in the LORD and more solidly grounded in understanding the “whys and wherefores” of such things. The end that is desired is a New Testament church that never fails to follow its Head — the Lord Jesus Christ.

This lesson is now located on the Ebenezer Baptist Church, Messages and Lessons page, or by following the link below:

The Functioning of the Body: The New Testament Church – Pt. 1

In Christ,

Paul W. Davis

The following is a message by Roger Jewell, missionary to the Dominican Republic. He sent this letter in the wake of the election. As I found it appropriate for any and every time, I asked for and received Bro. Jewell’s permission to post the letter.
Roger Jewell’s sending church is Tabernacle Baptist Church of Lebanon, Missouri. Faith Baptist Church of Spokane is one of his supporting churches.

Dear friends,

I wrote the following at 4:00am the morning after the election:

I just woke up and thought I would see who won the election. We figured this would be the result when we went to bed last night, but it is still disappointing to see. Obama said that “Change has come to America,” and I fear that it has. I fear that we have crossed the line, and that we have been given what we desired (or maybe deserved).

Change, but change from what……..and change to what? Change from a Christian nation to a pagan nation? Change from a righteous nation to a wicked nation? Change from a clear thinking nation to a nation in confusion. Change from a nation with restraints on morality to a nation where all the stops are removed? What kind of change is it that we really desire?

Will our new president really be sworn in with his hand on the Koran, and will his god be our God or the god of Islam? What is he going to do to our nation? I fear the worst. I believe he is right, and that change has come to America, but that this change has been coming for some time now.

I believe that the silent majority has been silent for so long that they have become the hated minority. It is easy to say that we are hated because the world is the enemy of God, but I fear we are hated because people hate hypocrites and that is what they see in Christianity today. We are a people (Christians) who speak of the love we have for God, yet our lives show otherwise. We are a people who say that we love others, yet we get bigger and better things for ourselves rather than sacrifice our time, talents and treasures to truly reach others. How many people can we point to that have truly given their lives or have sold their possessions to give to those who have need?

The world sees very little of true, biblical, New Testament Christianity (Acts 2:41-47). We, God’s people, have caused this plague to come upon us, and upon our nation and upon this world. We have stopped walking in obedience to our God and have slept while our nation, and the world, turns their backs upon our God and His Holy Word.

The only cure is for God’s people to obey 2 Chronicles 7:14. We must humble ourselves and get back to God and New Testament Christianity. We need to stop living for “a better life” in this world and live for the next. We need to stop and examine our lives, and ask God to reveal what we really hold dear.

I fear that we will find that we are living for what we can obtain in this world. We want bigger homes, newer homes, more elaborate church buildings, newer cars, possessions and more money so that we can have newer furniture, the latest clothing, jewelry and other vanities. We have strayed so far from biblical Christianity while thinking that we are right with God.

Most of us do not try to evangelize the world, but even those of us who do, desire to have the things of this world and be successful down here. The Bible says that those who lived by faith and accomplished great things for God were “strangers and pilgrims” in this world (Heb. 11:13). We are told that as “strangers and pilgrims,” we should abstain from fleshy lusts which war against the soul in 1 Pet. 2:11. How many “strangers and pilgrims” have you ever heard of that had large, beautiful homes and large bank accounts in the “strange land” in which they live? If they are established in that land and know that land, then they are no longer strangers.

I fear that we are not strangers and pilgrims any longer, but that we have adopted the philosophies and ways of this world. I believe that we are at home in this world. I believe that we want the things of this world and desire that our children have good jobs, many worldly possessions and are successful in “this” world. My friends, we are citizens of “another” world and should not put roots down in this one. We need to move back into the tents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

We need to become, once again, strangers and pilgrims in this world. We ought to live for our King and Master. Everything we do ought to proclaim that He is our Lord and Master. We need to become Ambassadors once again of a foreign land, a people living in a strange land and desiring to see our “Friend” and our Commander in Chief, Jesus Christ. We need to give up the niceties of this world and, in humility, do the work that the Master has given us to do. Our pride and arrogance has resulted in a world that has not heard the gospel. Our pride has resulted in a world that is steadily filling up with those who don’t want to have anything to do with our God. Who is the guilt party? We are.

We are responsible because we have been disobedient to our God. We are responsible, because we are living for what this world has to offer. We are responsible, because we are rearing our children to be successful in the world that Satan reigns in, rather than in the Kingdom of our God. Shame on us.

May God forgive our rebellion and our worldliness. May we repent and bring forth fruits meet for repentance. We need a fundamental change in our homes and in our churches. We need a change of mind that results in changed lives. We need true, Biblical repentance…we need revival. Our nation and our world will never come to God with the quality of Christians that we have living in them now. We must come back to God.

Only a man of faith will renounce the goods that he has in this world. We speak of the faith of Abraham who “went out, not knowing whither he went,” yet we are not willing to take that first step ourselves. We rejoice in the faith of Moses when rejected the wealth and prestige of Egypt (a type of the world) and chose “rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season,” yet we live for this world and desire to be successful in it. Moses “forsook Egypt,” yet we live for it. Where is our faith? Where is our service? Where is our sacrifice? Where is our God? Are we willing to get back to New Testament Christianity? Are we willing to live by faith as those mentioned in Hebrews 11:33-40? I fear that we are not. What great deeds are we performing because of our faith? Where is our faith (Luke 18:8)?

I fear that we have been so long in this world, and that we are so full of this world, that we are no longer a people of faith and are not willing to renounce the pleasures and goods that we have obtained in this wicked world by the hand of the “wicked one”. I fear that we have been corrupted, soiled and contaminated by the filth and poison of this world, and that we cannot even see it.

I pray that, if you read this, you will indeed see just how far we have strayed. I pray that you will humble yourself before the only true God, pray to Him and beg His forgiveness for your sin and for the sin our nation and of our world, seek His face and turn from your wickedness. Only then will we be healed.

Roger Jewell
Dominican Republic
Mt. 28:18-20

In the Scripture we are told that no doctrine is of any private interpretation, which means that all valid doctrines are established by several different passages and verses that are all contextually addressing the same issue in the same way. Now, unlike other books, the Bible does not address its doctrines one after another in a list or subject fashion. Rather, the doctrines of Scripture are scattered throughout the Book of books and are found by patient study and being led of the Holy Ghost to a right understanding. Of course, this does require that one come to the Scripture without seeking to prove their own doctrine, but willing to be instructed of the LORD concerning His doctrines. When we come with certain preconceived ideas (Don’t we all have those?), we must be willing to change them when the evidence of Scripture disproves those ideas.

So when it comes to the concept that we are capable of guaranteeing our future behavior, or that we will “tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,” the vast majority of “Christendom” holds to the idea that it is okay to declare that one can fulfill a future commitment, or swear that they will tell the truth, upon pain of condemnation by God. However, I never see Scripture supporting this position. What I do see from a lot of folks is an excusing away of the passage from the sermon on the mount, and no real explanation as to why the words do not say what they plainly state.

Perhaps if we examine what the Scripture does state about guaranteeing future behavior, and guaranteeing our words, we might have a better understanding of what our real condition is. Moreover, we might get a little more humble about how wonderful we think we are as individuals. We also might gain a better understanding of why it is the LORD made certain it was declared in His word:

Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. (Jeremiah 17:5)

Now this is certainly one of those statements that nobody wants to hear. Moreover, when it is brought up, everybody runs the other way. Nonetheless, the LORD stated it, and we must deal with it, understand why He stated it, and what it has to do with guaranteeing our future behavior. Of course, we could begin anywhere in Scripture, but since the LORD gave us a book that is from man’s perspective, it would be good to begin there.

In Ecclesiastes everything is examined from the view of “under the sun,” which is man’s view of things. In this book, we are informed that running one’s mouth without choosing words carefully will net one trouble – particularly in the house of God:

Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words.
When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands? For in the multitude of dreams and many words there are also divers vanities: but fear thou God. (Ecclesiastes 5:1-7)

If we note, the passage speaks to three things of consequence to us:

1. Being rash, or hasty with one’s words in the house of God.
2. The multitude of dreams and words will net trouble, and are vanity.
3. If you vow, pay; otherwise do not vow. It is actually wiser to not vow at all, than vow and not carry through with the promise.

The first two items shouldn’t be a problem for anyone to understand, and generally aren’t. However, the last one generates considerable controversy in certain Christian circles. In understanding why this is, we should note that a vow is the same a swearing that one will fulfill a promise, either in word or deed. Which means that people are going to look at you funny if you refuse to swear in court, or upon entrance in government service. (By the way, just how many government officials have broken their oaths of office?) Whether people consider one odd or not, is not the issue here. What is the issue is why we should, or should not swear, and what God does in response to someone swearing an oath – whether they are His child or not. However, to confirm or deny this doctrine, we need to go further, which brings us to the Gospel of Matthew and the words of the Lord Jesus Christ:

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: But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. (Matthew 5:33-37)

Plainly, the Lord stated here that one should not swear at all – period. He gives a couple of examples of things we have no power to control, and tells us that if we have no power to control these things, we certainly ought not swear concerning future words and deeds. This is briefly confirmed in James, chapter five:

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)

Here, in a nutshell is the very same thing the Lord Jesus Christ stated, and is also a further confirmation of what is stated in Ecclesiastes. However, he adds a reminder of something that we ought to be doing anyway, as it should be our wont to do so: when we speak – let it be the truth and stand by it.

Now, despite all that is addressed in the books of Moses concerning vows and oaths, it is plain that the Lord Jesus Christ set that aside and confirmed the statement in Ecclesiastes which reads:

Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thine hands? (Ecclesiastes 5:5-6)

Why is this, and what does this have to do with Jeremiah 17:5?

The “why” of this is bound up in who we are as individuals of the race of man. Simply put, we are fallen, sinful, wicked creatures who cannot determine what will happen five minutes from now, let alone tomorrow. Moreover, since we are in a fallen state, our minds, and thus our memories work perfectly, right?

No?

Why not?

Regardless of whether it is physical or spiritual limitation, it is entirely true that every last one of us has a faulty memory. We forget details, sequences of events, names, etc. Moreover, we have no power to control the events of the future. All we can do is determine what we want to do, and set about to accomplish that. Nevertheless, all our plans can be swept away by unforseen events over which we have no control.

Hence, to declare that we are sure and certain to the point of swearing we will say or do something in the future, even five minutes into the future, is to say that we have a measure of control that we do not have. It is to depend upon ourselves, instead of upon the LORD. We are reminded of this in James as well:

Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. (James 4:13-14)

Since these things are the case, we are reminded that our attitude is to be:

For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. (James 4:15)

So what does this have to do with “trusting in man?”

Everything. To clarify, a couple of questions are in order:

1. Are you certain that you want to depend upon yourself for the events of the future?
2. Are you certain you want to depend upon your memory to the extent of “so help me God?”

I don’t know about anyone else, but I have seen to many things never get finished because something happened to the person who set about to accomplish the task. Events beyond our control happen all the time, and to one extent or another, they hinder or stop the things we wish to do. As pertaining to swearing to tell the truth; men may not catch the factual errors of your recall, but the LORD God does. To swear that one can tell “ . . .the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So help me God.” is to declare that one actually knows the whole truth in the first place, and that one’s memory is perfect. Are you that sure of yourself?

If you are that sure and certain, then bring about your own salvation by your own efforts. If you are that good, you don’t need Christ.

This message is located at Ebenezer Baptist Church’s Lessons and Messages page, or by the direct link: Maintaining the Truth

The following story illustrates plainly what is wrong with the Amish religion. Please, watch it all.

You will find that they will persecute their own for STUDYING THE BIBLE IN ENGLISH AND PREACHING THE GOSPEL.