Something has been troubling me for a good while, so it must be time for a rant. I’ll get right to the point. It seems to me that some folks are too good for their own good–or anyone else’s good for that matter. Some time ago I posted a blog entitled “Longing to leave”, in which I quoted Jay Adams who said,”One of the saddest books I have ever read is the biography of A. W. Pink,who, it seems, withdrew more and more from the fellowship of others and eventually ended his life on an isolated island in Scotland, where he fellowshipped only with his wife and by mail with a few other devoted followers in various parts of the world.” I thought of that article when I ran across a message by Pink entitled, “A Call to Separation”, that carried the matter to far. After reading the article my first thought was, it must be terribly difficult to be so good and spiritual that you have to separate yourself from the rest of the world. I can’t help but wonder how that affected his dear wife! My second thought was this– anyone who would do that is not as good as they think they are. And I haven’t changed my mind. What Mr. Pink did and some others do is sheer nonsense. For those who might not know, Arthur Pink was brilliant man, a dedicated preacher, and a prolific writer. Nearly every preacher has read his books. Although I disagree with him on many doctrinal issues, I must confess that I’ve found much in his writings that were very helpful to me. His book “Gleanings in Genesis” was one of the first books I purchased after I surrendered to preach. I still have the copy in my library. So, to me it is a terrible waste that a man so gifted as he would isolate himself to the extent that he had no contact with the world. In his defense I must say that I agree that holiness should be our goal and that we should separate ourselves from evil. And I too get sick of the obvious hypocrisy that is so common among professing Christians. I too believe that we should stick to the standards of God’s Word and stand against the evils of our day. That’s what the Bible teaches. What the Bible does not teach is that we should cut ourselves off from contact with others to the point that we cannot be salt and light to the world. To be totally free from contact with corrupt people, Paul said,”for then must ye needs go out of the world”(1 Cor. 5:10). My dear friend, that’s about as selfish as you can get. Every Spirit-filled believer longs for things to be better, and often feels home sick for heaven, but they also have the attitude of Paul when he said,”Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you”. Indeed, to depart and be with Christ would have been far better for Paul, but he realized that he had a job to do. It is as though he was saying,”Heaven can wait”. It is a shame that some people spend their lives running from one church to another in search for the perfect church, or that some give up the search altogether and drop out of church. If they are so perfect, shouldn’t they be out-front teaching and leading by example, showing the rest of us what to do? I’m afraid these folks are too good, in their own mind, to be of any good. Sadly their self-righteous, holier-than-thou attitude is so offensive to others that they ruin any chance to be of good use to the kingdom of God. They are of no good to anyone because they think they are better than everyone! I don’t see much of Paul or anything of Jesus in such people. Paul never considered himself to be better than others and he confessed, “But by the grace of God I am what I am”(1 Cor. 15:10). Jesus was known as the friend of sinners, and was merciful unto them. His most scathing rebukes were reserved for those who thought they were better than others. As my old mother used to say, these folks need to “get down off their high horse”. The only good in any of us is Jesus. Were it not for the grace of God you would be in the same gutter with those you condemn. Standing aloof denouncing them does nobody any good. Rather than thinking more highly of yourself than you should (Rom. 12:3), you ought to humble yourself (Phil. 2:3), and make yourself a servant to all men (1Cor. 9:19), by presenting yourself as a living sacrifice to the body of Christ (Rom. 12:1-10)–the church of the Lord Jesus Christ (Col. 1:18). There is nothing spiritual or good about separating yourself from the fellowship of the saints. In fact you are commanded to do just the opposite (read Heb. 10:24-25). How can you provoke your brothers and sisters in Christ unto love and good works if you are isolated from them? How can you be as the Good Samaritan if you avoid the company of those in need. Have you ever thought about the possibility that you’re the one that’s most in need? Could it be? Think about it!

A strange thing happened–just today I posted a quote on Facebook by Charles Spurgeon that said, ” A time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, the church will have clowns entertaining the goats”. You and I have lived to see that come true. Then I happened to stumble onto this message by Mr. Spurgeon that fits like a hand in a glove:
FEEDING SHEEP OR AMUSING GOATS?

An evil is in the ‘professed’ camp of the Lord, so gross in its impudence, that the most shortsighted Christian can hardly fail to notice it. During the past few years this evil has developed at an alarming rate. It has worked like leaven until the whole lump ferments!

The devil has seldom done a more clever thing, than hinting to the Church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them. From speaking out the gospel, the Church has gradually toned down her testimony, then winked at and excused the frivolities of the day. Then she tolerated them in her borders. Now she has adopted them under the plea of reaching the masses!

My first contention is that providing amusement for the people is nowhere spoken of in the Scriptures as a function of the Church. If it is a Christian work why did not Christ speak of it? ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, and provide amusement for those who do not relish the gospel’.

No such words, however, are to be found. It did not seem to occur to Him. Where do entertainers come in? The Holy Spirit is silent concerning them. Were the prophets persecuted because they amused the people, or because they confronted them? The ‘concert’ has no martyr roll.

Again, providing amusement is in direct antagonism to the teaching and life of Christ and all His apostles. What was the attitude of the apostolic Church to the world? “You are the salt of the world”, not the sugar candy; something the world will spit out, not swallow.

Had Jesus introduced more of the bright and pleasant elements into His teaching, He would have been more popular. When “many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him,” I do not hear Him say, ‘Run after these people, Peter, and tell them we will have a different style of service tomorrow; something short and attractive with little preaching. We will have a pleasant evening for the people. Tell them they will be sure to enjoy it! Be quick, Peter, we must get the people somehow!’

No! Jesus pitied sinners, sighed and wept over them, but never sought to amuse them!

In vain will the epistles be searched to find any trace of the ‘gospel of amusement’. Their message is, “Therefore, come out from them and separate yourselves from them… Don’t touch their filthy things…” Anything approaching amusement is conspicuous by its absence. They had boundless confidence in the gospel and employed no other weapon.

After Peter and John were locked up for preaching, the Church had a prayer meeting, but they did not pray, ‘Lord, grant unto your servants that by a wise and discriminating use of innocent recreation we may show these people how happy we are’.

No! They did not cease from preaching Christ. They had no time for arranging entertainments. Scattered by persecution they went everywhere preaching the gospel. They turned the world upside down; that is the only difference from today’s church.

Lastly, amusement fails to effect the end desired. Let the heavy laden who found peace through the concert not keep silent! Let the drunkard to whom the dramatic entertainment had been God’s link in the chain of their conversion, stand up! There are none to answer! The mission of amusement produces no converts!

The need of the hour for today’s ministry is earnest spirituality joined with Biblical doctrine, so understood and felt, that it sets men on fire.

Lord, clear the Church of all the rot and rubbish the devil has imposed on her, and bring us back to apostolic methods!

I just read an interesting article by Matthew Vandum dealing with the issue of “gun control”. Here an excerpt from that article:

Stacy Swimp, president of the Frederick Douglass Society, said “there’s a direct correlation between gun control and black people control.” Early gun laws “were put into place to register black folks, to make sure that they would know who we were — that we could not defend ourselves.” (It was former slave and orator Frederick Douglass who said, “A man’s rights rest in three boxes: the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box.”)

Black Chamber of Commerce president Harry Alford praised the National Rifle Association, noting its historic role in protecting black Americans.

“The National Rifle Association was started, founded by religious leaders who wanted to protect free slaves from the Ku Klux Klan,” he said. “They would raise money, buy arms, show the free slaves how to use those arms and protect their families. God bless you. Many of us probably wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for the NRA.”

As historian Michael Zak explained in his book, Back to Basics for the Republican Party, after the Civil War ended Republicans passed the Thirteenth Amendment, formally abolishing slavery. Democrats in southern states countered by enacting laws aimed at maintaining control over the ex-slaves.

Zak notes that these “black codes” typically prohibited African-Americans not only from owning guns, but also from operating their own businesses, assembling without authorization, being on the street after nightfall, or traveling without permission from their white employers.

He said the black code in effect in Mississippi stated that “no freedman, free Negro or mulatto, not in the military . . . and not licensed so to do by the board of police of his or her county, shall keep or carry firearms of any kind, or any ammunition…”

For the full article go to– http://frontpagemag.com/2013/matthew-vadum/the-racism-of-gun-control/

This issue is much more serious than most people realize. If the right to bear arms is taken away from us it opens the door for complete government control. Listen to what Sarah Palin said recently: “If we are going to wet our proverbial pants over 0.3% in annual spending cuts when we’re running up trillion dollar annual deficits, then we’re done,” Palin wrote of the sequester set to hit on Friday. “Put a fork in us. We’re finished. We’re going to default eventually and that’s why the feds are stockpiling bullets in case of civil unrest.”

Many of us have been warning that this is the governments intent for some time now. It is refreshing to hear someone such as Palin agree with our observation and have the guts to say it. If we don’t wake up and fight back we will lose all our rights. Silence is not an option. Think about it!