Thank you Mike!!

As always, I much appreciate your thoughtful scriptural responses. It ALWAYS adds to my understanding. I actually don’t really disagree with anything you have written here. I have no false delusions about the ‘evil manner’ (going against His Word while thinking they are serving Him) in which this country was founded and how evil the many wars have been, yet I still count my blessings that God ordained me to be raised here and live in this country. That blessing to me is way down on the list and is far removed from the spiritual blessings I am receiving; even by communicating with you and the rest of the Body, but yet I consider it a blessing.

The point or question is this: Jesus spoke in parables, answered His followers according to the idols of their heart and what He thought they could bear at the time. We are taught that Paul could not speak to the Corinthians as mature or even spiritual, but as ‘babes in Christ’, so he determined to preach “Jesus Christ and HIM crucified”. He knew it would be received differently by the carnal than the mature, yet he did not bother to elaborate at that time exactly what that means.

A couple years ago I was asked by the family of a friend who died of complications of MS to give a eulogy at his funeral. They knew that I befriended him and for many years took him to church with me, etc. Well, I shared some stories about how inspirational he was, shared some of his favorite scriptures and closed with John 17:3: “This is life eternal (or as it’s written in the Greek, “this is life aionios”) to know God and Jesus Christ whom He sent.” While at this point, I had separated myself from the church at this time, there were many from this church to whom I spent years ministering and fellowshipping. I knew the majority would receive that Scripture in a way very differently than how I meant it. Yet, like Jesus and Paul, I did not give a sermon or further explanation to what it meant, but I could say I stayed faithful to His Word; especially if the Spirit of God moved anyone to ask me about what I meant by aionios (either immediately or years later).

So, I asked myself these questions afterward. Was I wrong to pay my respects to the family this way and celebrate the life that was given to him and share with them his positive attitude despite his physical and emotional difficulties? Was I wrong to not use this opportunity to take a stand and explain John 17:3 and what that really means? Was I still timid and destined for the Lake of Fire? Or was this an application of Godly Love? I am still not sure. Was I double minded? Was I letting my yea be yea? Only God knows, and I trust He will reveal it to me at His time.

What I do know is I was sincerely trying to follow the Scriptural example of letting His words speak even though I was sure the people (because I knew so many of them) there would define those words differently. Often when I send a note to someone, I sign it then note ‘3Jn 2’ below my signature. Yet, I know it may be received differently than how I receive the Truth of the Scripture – primarily spiritual. Regarding serving two masters; I could not agree more with what you wrote! However, does that mean we don’t prioritize? As you know and have taught, our priorities are clear in Scripture that we are to tend to the Body of Christ and their needs before the rest of humanity. Unfortunately, some people (myself included at times) ignore the needs of other people completely even when there is opportunity to do so and say “my allegiance is to the Body” just like some say in error that Paul ONLY preached to the Gentiles and not the physical Jews. What if I am defining allegiance differently than how others are saying it?

Lately, I am reading in the email threads how men are telling their wives they can’t serve two masters and that Jesus is first priority in their lives. I commend them for it, but not knowing the details of their lives behind closed doors, I wonder how they are applying it and how are they saying it that they are getting such negative responses (I know this is what God has willed regardless). My heart breaks for them, yet I wonder how they using wisdom in how it’s communicated and acted upon.

I have seen so many people cause problems in their marriage by using their Christian priorities as an excuse to be lazy regarding their spouse’s needs (me too, at times, so it’s easy to recognize). I bring this point up as I see in some cases ‘hastiness’ in some actions based on their newly found understandings. I made a ‘pledge of allegiance to my wife’ before God that I would do all that I can to have Jesus first in my life and the center of our marriage and that pledge was really to God, yet to those around me that heard my pledge, which included a God first commitment, they also heard what I was committing to in applying that pledge to God … my pledge to her. In light of pledging allegiance to a flag of a country, it could be seen as putting one’s trust in men.

I also agree with you on the presidential election and voting and the concept that God will give us our next president, “the basest of men”. I put no confidence in any man. It does lead me to think about applying Scriptures to my life as we move along in the process. Will I be getting intertwined with the world’s affairs if I vote for the local school board members knowing some may have very evil intentions while others less evil, less socially harmful intentions with their policies? Am I being a good parent to be involved in the selection process or am I trying in vain to save my child? Do I vote for my friend to be Town Supervisor who I knew has the best intentions for our small town and would not steal or cheat and is a good financial steward? My faith is in God not in this man, but does that mean I don’t use wisdom to protect my family? Am I loving my wife by placing that vote, which potentially protects our home and finances, or am I trying to save my town and my actions contrary to Scriptures? I no longer participate on any of the local boards as I see my calling to be ‘about my Father’s business’, and I leave those worthy causes to others as the limited non-work time is better spent in His Word and with my wife, but is it wrong to take a minute and place support with a vote in some of this situations? These are all sincere questions and things I think about sometimes and pray for His leading.

Sometimes I think asking a sincere question and looking at a different way causes one to re-look at the Scriptures and how to apply them, which hopefully just solidifies what we already know to be true because ‘we are to count the cost’ so we should be sure we are on solid ground as that cost can be very high.

Thank you again for the outline and for taking the time to read this. As you know I am not trying to be contrary or to cause anyone to stumble but I have seen my own hastiness cause me to sin and even cause damages that impacted others which are unrecoverable in this age.

Blessings!

M____

Hi M____,

Thank you for your thoughtful comments on this subject of whether we should pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States, and whether we should vote and how far down the governmental ladder we should involve ourselves. You closed assuring me you were not trying to be contrary, so let me assure you that I did not take a word of this email in that way at all. You did ask a lot of questions which I do want to answer, and as always, I want to use the scriptures to do so.

The first thing you mentioned was speaking at your friend’s funeral. I spoke this year at a friend’s funeral because his family knew that I was the deceased man’s close friend, and they knew I was his spiritual leader. The deceased had told me that he had been raised a Southern Baptist and that he had reared his children in the Baptist Church. I did not know the man’s family, and they did not know me. They had no idea about my doctrine concerning heaven and hell, and I had no intention of using this time of mourning the loss of their father to stir up a doctrinal controversy with a room full of Southern Baptists.

Just before I was to get up and speak, the dead man’s two children were asked by the funeral director to say a few words about their father. In tears they told the whole assembly that they knew their father was at this very moment up in heaven eating chocolate ice cream, which was his favorite desert. They told of all the good works their father had done and of how they knew the Lord loved their father, and how the Lord would no doubt reward their father for all the love he had shown to others during his life on this earth.

I had never intended to use this man’s funeral to attempt to convert people who had no other reason for being there other than to comfort that man’s family. That was my only reason for being there, too. I had read what Job’s so-called comforters had done to him, and I had no intention of doing the same to this family. I, too, simply recalled all the good times this man and I had spent together studying the word of God, and of how receptive he was to God’s Word. However, I never attacked the doctrines of the Southern Baptists at this funeral. I told them that God did indeed love their father and that He would indeed show His love to their Father. I never once agreed that he is now in heaven, though I feel certain that they all thought that was what I was saying. Just as Christ did not tell the thief on the cross that it could be at least 2,000 years before he would see him again, and instead just told that poor suffering soul, “With me you will be in paradise” I, too, as you did, simply attempted to “mourn with those who [were] mourning”.

Because you asked, I will address the subject of voting for lesser political offices, like mayor, city councilmen, school board member or even a homeowner’s association president. The scriptures tell us this as it regards any and all worldly entanglements:

Gal 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

2Ti 2:4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

You speak of voting for your friend who you know to be an honest man, as if that were a wise thing to do for the good of your family. Believe me, I know how you feel here because I, too, have reasoned in the same way in the past. Nevertheless, look at these words of our Lord:

Luk 16:10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
Luk 16:11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

In other words, if we cannot resist voting for the president of our homeowner’s association, how can we expect to resist the pressure to vote for the basest of men to rule over the nation? If you actually believe that the welfare of your family depends upon the right president of the homeowner’s association or the right school board member, then why would you not do the same for whoever you consider to be the best congressman or the best president for the welfare of the nation? The adversary is very persuasive and is given to keep the whole world deceived into believing that they can somehow save this world from its predestined destruction from its own sins:

Pro 5:22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.

Jer 2:19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

Pointing to all these scriptures is in no way exercising dominion over anyone’s faith because we have no such dominion. It is the Truth which speaks for itself. Here is the Biblical definition of wisdom. Here is how we can all best use wisdom and protect and care for our families:

Job 28:28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

Those who “fear the Lord” love and obey the Lord, and “do the things [He] says”, and “follow in His steps”. That and that alone is what keeps our families safe in the face of dangers of all sorts:

Exo 15:26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.

Luk 6:46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

1Jn 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
1Jn 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

Any time we see such statements, we can turn them completely around and conclude that if we fail to do any of those things, then the exact opposite is true, and we will be at risk of receiving all the diseases which our Lord sends upon this world, both physically and spiritually, and of not loving our families and not loving the children of God.

So the scriptural definition of wisdom is “the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom.” The Biblical definition of how we know we love our wives, husbands, families or “the children of God” is to “love God and keep His commandments.” When Peter was confronted with obeying God versus obeying the commandments of men here is what the holy spirit inspired this man to tell us, just a few weeks after he had denied our Lord to save his own life:

Act 5:29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

There are laws in nearly every country which command the citizens to vote and to bear arms in defense of that country. I cannot tell anyone what they must do, but if I fail to tell them what the scriptures tell us, then that person’s blood will be on my head.

I am not speaking out of ignorance, but out of experience. I was drafted by the old Selective Service system into the military, and I simply refused to be drafted. I was told that I could be a conscientious objector and serve as a medic or a cook, but I would still be denying my heavenly citizenship and placing another authority between myself and my God. I was scared to death, and after four years of incessant threats of a prison term, I was literally, physically trembling before the man who called me to his office to tell me of my fate. That man saw how I was trembling, but instead of sending me off to prison, the Lord delivered me, and I was told that I was no longer under the threat of prison and that the Selective Service no longer had dominion over me. The Truth was they never had dominion over me because I never gave them that dominion, and I never participated in the affairs of this age – militarily or politically or socially. That is what the Lord gave me to endure, and it was a time of great stress.

I would never place any such burden upon any who are not given the faith to bear that burden. “Not that we have dominion over your faith, but we are helpers of your joy” if you are granted to “count it all joy when you fall into different trials.” It is the way of life which tries our faith, which is the life of the truly wise man:

Jas 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; [Greek: trials)
Jas 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
Jas 1:4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
Jas 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

Your brother who is always praying for the true love of God and the true wisdom of God,

Mike