Friday, January 25, 2008

Randomocity

Hey everyone! Today I figured I would give you an Alex Trebek-like potpourri of stuff floating around my mind. Don't be scared... It's perfectly harmless.
  • Parenthood is wonderful. If you're thinking about having kids and are worried about having to give up so much of your own time in order to do so, well... That's the whole point! When I stopped and thought about what I did with my free time, I realized i didn't do much with it. Rather, spending my time raising and teaching a child who mirrored my personality and every move would be a far better way to spend my time. If you're looking to improve yourself, look no further.
  • There were some lay-offs last week at my company. As I watched some of my good friends get affected by these events, I realized how much each of us individually would be affected by the awful events that could easily take place any year now. It won't just happen to the world, or just to our country, it'll happen to us personally! How will I handle that??
  • With this bank in France losing just over $7.1 billion because of one company-employed trader worming his way around their 5-layered security measures, what does that do for people's trust in the banking system worldwide? First it was here in America with our loose lending practices. Now banks are losing and writing off billions left and right! They're freely accepting money from Asian and Arab governments to stay afloat! Our markets and economies are all based on faith. While it used to be "In God we trust", our economy and materialistic way of life have replaced that trust. Americans used to assume on faith that neither will ever be taken away. Quoting R.E.M., it will be interesting to see if people begin losing their religion...
  • Speaking of the economy, at some point, you just have to let the various markets adjust. Sure, I'd love to see my house double in value every 2-10 years. But that's not sustainable. When no one can afford a home and people have to take out ridiculous loans in order to get one, it's time for something to change. And yet, here we are throwing more borrowed money at the over-inflated economy with this stimulus plan. If the government would only allow the capitalist motto of "supply and demand" carry forth even a little bit, it might right itself and spare us from swift correction (read: depression). However, with our lack of patience and "the government can fix it right now" mentality, we may not get the luxury of an economic soft landing.
  • Young people are the future of the Church. We really should continue in the example that our elders have set for us and serve as an example to the younger kids. Unlike every generation's desire to "do one better" than previous generations, we can heed Biblical instruction to lean on our elders' understanding and wisdom as we are slowly allowed to serve more. We have lots of energy and zeal, so let's blend it with our elder's experience in order to produce great things! So don't be afraid to throw out ideas, discuss them with more experienced people and then follow through by organizing events, socials, etc. Let's own our ideas and ACT!

Do any of you have any random thoughts floating around in your head? I'd like to hear some...

Friday, January 18, 2008

Similarities

Lately, I've been reading through the major and minor prophets. The first couple of times I read them, I thought they were pretty repetitive. God would instruct one of His prophets to tell His people their sins against Him. God gave Israel and Judah chance after chance to stop and turn back to Him. He warned them to stop creating and worshiping idols, quit the sexual immorality, partying, drinking, visiting fortune tellers, and cease the false prophesying. He threatened them with sieges and captivity time after time. Sometimes the prophets were heeded, sometimes they were thrown into the stocks or prison and sometimes they were flat out killed. This goes on and on for both Israel and Judah until each is destroyed and carried away.

In today's day and age, I listen to people discuss their beliefs as to why the Worldwide Church of God broke apart. As I've noted before, there were abuses of power, wicked men who forced their way into power, and all sorts of atrocities going on in Pasadena as well as around the world in the various church areas. Mr. Armstrong began this Church with a great deal of faith, but as the Work grew, and subsequently, the Church itself, teaching and administrating such a large group of people became extremely difficult. Yes, there were many faithful brethren. There were thousands that had attended for 10, 20, 30, 40+ years and were continuing to grow spiritually. They embodied the kind of character that Mr. Armstrong was instructed to teach and encourage in God's Church. But there was also a growing spirit of complacency as the Church grew. Many didn't live as we were called to do. They were baptized, but no real repentance seemed to take place over the long haul. Many continued to smoke, drink, party, beat their spouses, hold grudges and commit adultery and fornication. Among a growing majority, there was little repenting and acting on the message that was being preached week in and week out. For some, prayer was only fervent in times of desperation while Bible study was only done when new and interesting topics were introduced. Fasting happened once a year on Atonement. At one point late in his ministry, Mr. Armstrong had doubts that more than 10% of God's Church "got" was God was trying to accomplish through them!

Are the two subjects of ancient Israel's fall and Worldwide's collapse all that different? In both cases, here were God's people, as a whole, called for a holy purpose and not living up to that purpose over the long haul. God wanted Israel to be an example to the nations around of the kind of prosperity, peace and joy that could be had while living God's way. Similarly, we in God's Church were called to also be an example, infused with the Holy Spirit to guide us even more than Israel. We were to preach the entire Truth to as many people of the world that we could. However, just as God would also destroy Israel for their breaking of His covenant as an example to the nations around, I believe the same happened to Worldwide for our disregard of His new covenant with the Church.

It's important here to look a little deeper as to why both groups failed. Many people have come to understand that God broke apart His Church because of our transgressions. However, the actions taken by many of the groups that split off from Worldwide seem to show that there is a blurring of the lines between God's role and man's role in the whole ordeal. I have heard many say that Mr. Tkach and others weaseled their way into the top human roles of the Church by fooling Mr. Armstrong. As a result, many new churches were created with governments consisting of democracies, oligarchies and outright anarchies in order to prevent these types of events from occurring again. It's almost as if they're insinuating that these men somehow sneaked under God's nose, too!

Remember, this is still GOD'S Church! Jesus Christ is the active head! As we see from Scripture, no man assumes power in this world without God's say so. Even if men do sneak into leadership positions, God knows those men's thoughts way before their actions are played out and He has full power to allow or disallow those coups of power to occur. He also has the power to kick that man out of office. He has the power to put the right people in office should that man go astray. His timing may be different than ours, but His will is always done!

Just like ancient Israel, both the leadership and the people played their roles in separating from God. The kings and ministers should have set the right example for the whole assembly to follow God. Some did, some didn't. Likewise, every man and woman had their part to play in staying faithful regardless of what the kings or ministers decreed. This is why God commanded families to pass down the stories of the first Passover and other miracles to demonstrate God's awesome power and to build trust and faith in the Eternal. Even when Elijah felt all alone, there were still 7,000 who hadn't bowed a knee to Ba'al. Both Israel and the Church received many extra blessings and promises when they obeyed. But to those who are given much, much is expected. The Church, instead of prospering, was coming apart at the seams due to sin, corruption and complacency, like the nation of Israel, and God had to show both who was in charge!

Reading through the prophets' tales in the Bible, I try to imagine how they felt about the whole situation. Here they were, being obedient and righteous while their whole world was falling apart around them. They all prayed fervently for God to relent from His furious anger. Daniel, in chapter 9, is extremely heartfelt towards his beloved nation decades after they were in captivity. Yet even then, most of the prophets suffered right along with the people. They went through the sieges. They starved alongside everyone. They were taken captive or left in the desolate landscape that Jerusalem became after the Chaldeans scorched it to the ground. Through all of it, although exhausted and extremely unpopular, the prophets remained close to God and did as He instructed them to do, no matter how difficult. Meanwhile, evil kings, priests, prophets and the 70 elders all led the nation to their doom while the people themselves were unfaithful and sinful. No matter the warning, none were heeded.

And yet after all the failures of the nation, God did relent and restored a small remnant of His people to the Promised Land. He reinstalled the exact same Levitical priesthood and allowed a governor to rule Jerusalem again when they returned from captivity. Ezra 6:18-20 states that the priests were set in their sections and the Levites in theirs. But what's important to note is verse 20: "For the priests and Levites were purified together, all of them purified." In order to serve in this great capacity, God had to purify the new leaders, just as He did when Israel first came into the Holy Land. The people had sinned and sinned and sinned and never repented until God finally overthrew them! Then they had time to think about what they did and turn back to God. Finally, God installed His government the way it should have been to begin with.

The reason for the fall of Judah and Israel wasn't the system of government. It was the fact that the people defiled themselves! The leaders defiled themselves! They weren't pure. The PEOPLE stopped keeping their end of the covenant. And while this seems obvious on the surface, so many churches today haven't learned that God's system of government has not failed! God's Work has not changed! He has simply done what He said He would do if they weren't bearing fruit. For Israel, Ezekiel 15 says that those branches not bearing fruit would be thrown in the fire. For the Church, John 15:6 has the same warning. God never says the Church or its purpose would be cast in the fire!

Just like the prophets in ancient times, we have been specially chosen to do a job that was given to us by God the Father, Himself! It's the most important job in the world, especially at these dangerous end-times. Let's not allow feelings of betrayal destroy our sense of direction and our VISION. This job will be difficult and will contain extreme challenges as we draw closer to the great tribulation. It will require real faith in God that He is still and always in charge, and that He will see His purpose through to the end.

The prophets were called to be a witness to and against Israel and Judah. God saw these special men through their difficult jobs. Similarly, God will see us through while we proclaim His gospel of the Kingdom as a witness in all nations, and then the end shall come!

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Lessons From a Vision

I was reading through Ezekiel the last few days, and when I got to chapter 8, my Nelson's NKJV Study Bible had an interesting commentary on what God was showing Ezekiel. If you don't remember Ezekiel 8, the basic premise is that God took Ezekiel up in the spirit (in a vision) back to Jerusalem to show him the atrocities that were occurring in the Temple... There were idols set up in the entrance and courtyard, and after Ezekiel dug a hole in a wall, he saw images of every beast and creature imaginable carved on the wall on the other side. Inside, the 70 elders of Jerusalem, the top leaders, were offering up incense to these pagan gods. Other women, like the elders who were hiding themselves, were weeping for Tammuz, a pagan god of fertility, because they could not bear children. A far cry (bad pun intended) from Samuel's mother... And there were another 25 men with their backs turned to the Temple facing the east bowing down towards the sun!

We all understand that God is mad because here were His people breaking His first two commandments, probably along with many others, in worshipping these gods and images. What made the Study Bible commentary interesting was what these wicked people thought and why. Some of these people were worshipping outside in broad daylight. And yet, there were many terrible acts going on in private. Verse 12 states, "And He said to me, Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, each man in his image room? For they are saying, God does not see us; God has forsaken the earth." In other polytheistic cultures in the Middle East at that time, gods were thought to have human-like characteristics. The Greek gods and goddesses in the old movie version of "The Odyssey" come to mind. They were so far removed from God that they thought He, YHWH, the LORD Eternal, could not peer into to closed, dark rooms to see what they were doing! They recognized God was still there, but continued on!

I drew from this commentary one of the many reasons God does not want us worshiping made-up gods and images, other than the fact that it's stupid, pointless and leads to rebelliousness: It causes us to drag God down to our human level. And it will only hurt us when we do...

God is invisible and silent to us in this age, so people who aren't close to Him through prayer and Bible study will naturally not understand His awesome power and character. But once we are called to be His special people and draw closer to Him, we must cast off what's around us and point our attention on what's above (Col. 3:2). However, if God is believed to be on our level ("What if God was one of us?" Blech!), then He can't see our every doing. He can't help, clothe, feed or house us. He can't forgive us of our sins and help us overcome. He can't overthrow Satan. He can't resurrect us into eternal life. We slowly, but totally, lose faith in Him, His power and His incredible plan for all mankind. Our weakened faith then leads us to try and go it alone with our own human reasoning.

Today, most Christian religions worship physical objects as Jesus Christ and God the Father. Santa Claus, the Easter bunny, crosses, pictures, Christmas trees, yule logs, etc. "remind" people of their god. As shown above, physical objects worshiped as God merely make the Father and Jesus Christ less god-like in our minds! They take on a more human personality; one we are comfortable with. This personality doesn't judge us, but rather accepts us as we are. This god does not get angry at us for sinning against it. We project our own weak human experiences and reasoning to some inanimate object that we bow down to and worship as our god.

It doesn't take a logic major to see that this "god" is merely our own self.

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Draw Close To God

Mr. Wells gave an excellent sermon yesterday, and I figured the notes were worth typing up here for anybody to read. There's nothing new here, but these are good principles to guide us as we get closer to T-Day (Tribulation).

I Thes. 4 states that we must awake and look at our current spiritual condition. II Cor. 6:14 and II Tim. 3:1 - Don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers. Do we see the state of this world and its many problems? How does that affect us? Are we willing to flee its attitudes and its actions? This world denies God's power and instruction although they talk as though they know Him. Men continue to learn endless knowledge, but never come to an understanding of God's way. Rather, they follow a perverted form of truth -- Satan's. Regardless, we cannot leave the true knowledge that we are called to receive and live according to.

James 4 discusses how man's opinions and false knowledge cause disputes, fighting and wars. Why? Because of our selfishness, lust and covetousness! Our jealous nature causes so many problems. We want what others have! However, we don't get these desires because we don't ask God with the right attitude IF we ask at all! Self-will rules many of our lives and most do not surrender to God. God resists a proud and "I know better" attitude. However, He gives more earnestly to those who truly humble themselves and seek God. We need to fully submit to God and resist the accusational attitude of Satan.

Only God can fully judge and solve our problems, so only total faith in Him will allow us to come to a lasting solution. It is usually when we ask for God's intervention that He is more likely to intervene. We should ask believing that He already wants to help and has a solution... We are merely catching up with His plan. However, if we don't ask, we are, in essence, asking God to intervene in a way and at a time that we may not be asking for!

Recognize (v. 9) that life is not all about our rewards, pleasure or happiness. We must be willing to see the awfulness of the world and its need for God. Many times, we require trials to really be humbled when we aren't willing to humble ourselves. Deaths of friends and family, sickness, war, fear, persecution, extreme poverty and natural disasters will get our attention and make us take note of our spiritual condition for a time. But again, God would rather us humble ourselves, which will last longer.

Stop speaking evil of others and purify your mind from condemning, unclean and perverse thoughts. I Pet. 5:5 speaks in a similar manner to James. Submit to elder, wiser and more spiritual people. Solid people. Surrender your willfulness to everyone! In other words, stop talking and do more listening. Even when people aren't as old or experienced as you, at least hear them out (think of Job's story) and deeply think about what was said. Be willing to be entreated or reasoned with! He who humbles himself will eventually be exalted by God.

Col. 2:20 - How we humble ourselves must not be purposely visible just to impress others, like monks taking vows of silence and celibacy or fasting with sackcloth and ashes. We must, rather, be clothed with humility, saturated by it!

I Peter 5:6-10 - Satan is waiting to pick off the sick-minded and spiritually weak members of the flock like a lion would. Rather, cast your cares, concerns, worries, disputes and problems on God because He wants to help! But sometimes He requires us to have the willingness to ask Him or change ourselves through a humble attitude while seeking His will in the matter. We cannot just ask for something to be solved the way we want it to be. God is willing let us suffer until we get this principle, but only to perfect, establish, settle and strengthen us. Our first reaction to every problem in our life should be to bring it before Him seeking His will!

Matt. 5:3 - The beatitudes are a description of godly humility we need to overcome and grow and change. We cannot have pride or vanity. We must mourn this world's and our own sins. We should be teachable and yielding all while hungering and thirsting for God's very nature. Have mercy on others and be more than willing to forgive them. (When a decision of judgment or mercy arises, err on the side of mercy.) Seek a pure heart and cast out selfishness and evil thoughts. Make peace with others! Allow yourself to be persecuted without causing it yourself. Finally, rejoice and be glad for God's ultimate reward. It will be ours if we do all these things!

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Real Maturity

Have you watched much TV lately? Ever listen to the conversations of fellow students or workmates? I really am sick and tired of immaturity displaying itself in perverted humor, over-sexualization, petty hatred and jealousy, vanity over looks and what so-and-so has that I don't, not to mention grudges that ruin people's lives in today's day and age. When have we entered "adulthood"? What is real maturity? I have noticed that even people that are 30-60 years of age still in many ways act like children if they don't get their way. I regularly read the news, or at least the media's opinion on the news, at best, and see human nature at its finest. Does wisdom really come with age? Do people really ever learn from their mistakes?

Mr. Rice's Notebook has a great discussion on emotional maturity (chapter 5). Mr. Rice was the mailroom manager at Ambassador College and gave regular Bible Studies to the students. Below is his list on several immature behaviors:
  1. Being moody and depressed too much of the time.
  2. Crying, pouting, losing temper and screaming over trivial matters.
  3. Being late for appointments or allowing pleasures to get in the way of school assignments or other responsibilities.
  4. Staying up too late at night when you should be getting your rest — then sleeping in too late for classes or work.
  5. Staying in bed and calling in sick when you feel a little tired or down, rather than disciplining yourself and putting your responsibilities first.
  6. Getting mad if you aren't the center of attention and the most popular person around. Or, getting irritated and insolent when you don't get your way.
  7. Being demanding of other people and feeling that they should cater to your desires and
    needs first.
  8. Buying on impulse — failing to consider the price, or whether you have the resources.
  9. Failing to say "NO" to yourself — giving in to your desires and wants without restraint —
    disregarding the consequences.
  10. Failing to reason out a situation or problem from beginning to end before making a
    decision — acting first and thinking later.
  11. Being easily influenced by others, instead of using your mind and making your own decisions.
  12. Daydreaming — wasting your time in a world of fantasy and make believe instead of
    thinking constructively.
  13. Reacting emotionally and falling apart in an emergency. Failing to collect your wits and act
    with a clearthinking head after the initial blow has passed.
  14. Finding fault with everything and everybody, instead of trying to get along with people. In
    other words, being generally negative and critical toward life.
  15. Using the excuse that since you're a woman and therefore more emotional (especially at
    certain times of the month), you don't have to keep your emotions in tow.
  16. Failing to take the blame or being too stubborn to admit it when you are wrong.
  17. Feeling inadequate and easily discouraged — particularly when associating with peers who
    are self-assured, multitalented and successful.
  18. Other general manifestations:
    a. Shyness — loner-type
    b. Fearful of taking new steps
    c. Impetuous
    d. Self-indulgent
    e. Insensitive and inconsiderate
    f. Whines, complains and cries easily
    g. Overly concerned with your health
    h. Moody, changeable, unstable
    i. Easily offended
    j. Accusing
    k. Competitive — win or else — always have to be first
    l. Argumentative and intolerant
    m. Impatient — everything must be "now" — never later
    n. Sarcastic and cynical
    o. Unable to be serious and level-headed
    p. Disorganized
    q. Unable to concentrate
    r. Irresponsible-and undependable

Do any of these apply to you? Several did to me. So what are we supposed to do about them? Well, first we must understand what emotions are. Mr. Rice states, "Emotion is the energy which makes the mind work — it supplies the energy for survival. Emotions — physical and mental feelings — are necessary for life and stimulate you to behave in a certain way. In that sense, we are all emotional people." Mr. Sena once stated in a sermon that knowledge may help us to understand a principle, advice, or even see a flaw in ourselves, but emotion is required to change it. Learning to hate sin, for example, helps us to eradicate it from our lives. Our love for God, parents and friends, on the other hand, cause us to want to do nice things for them.

The key, according to Mr. Rice, is channeling that emotional energy in the right direction. Let's say someone really ticks you off. Do the retaliatory actions course through your veins right past your brain and straight out your mouth? Or do you take the opportunity to think about whether your perfect comeback will, in fact, make the world a better place for you having said it (thanks, Marshall)? Mr. Rice covers a number of ways you can become more mature in your thinking. He states the following areas to begin with:
  1. Analyze yourself
  2. Grow in confidence and esteem
  3. Learn to discipline yourself
  4. Overcome self-consciousness
  5. Overcome self-centeredness
  6. Eliminate self-pity (self seems to be an issue, doesn't it?)
  7. Learn to be a good loser
  8. Don't be flippant and scatter-brained
  9. Select a mature model to follow (he uses Proverbs 31 for women)
  10. Learn to think before you verbalize your feelings (bingo for Mike)
  11. Learn to be flexible (not necessarily like a gymnast)
  12. Take control of your life and learn to be tolerant of others

I'm all about lists today, so here's what he states an emotionally mature individual's fruits are:

  1. Composed.
  2. Reserved.
  3. Purposeful.
  4. Has sense of values.
  5. Goals defined.
  6. Able to cope with crises.
  7. Cultured and refined.
  8. Able to control anger and settle differences.
  9. Patient.
  10. Determined.
  11. Capable of facing unpleasantness and frustration.
  12. Humble.
  13. Joyful and happy.
  14. Compassionate.

So there you have it. These really are keys to living life better with God-like character. Many of these characteristics are listed in Mr. Armstrong's list of 7 Keys to Success. Really, it's just letting go of the immature human-nature and taking on a godly maturity. I hope this helps, it sure has helped me.

Importance of Government - Part II

Human beings are born immediately into the one of the most, if not the most, effective form of government at birth. A father and mother bring a child into the world and immediately begin to nurture and teach a child in the way he or she should go. There's no questioning that a baby needs its parents. Without that care, an infant would surely die. As the child gets older, that toddler looks up to his parents as his natural leader. After all, they've always been there for him and they have always taken care of him. They have fed, clothed, taught, cuddled and loved their offspring and now they begin forming boundaries and rules as he needs them. That child is expected to follow the rules. Punishments or rewards are handed out as needed if those rules are broken or kept. Over time, the child begins to learn the reasons why those rules are in place and begins to think broadly about their applications in other aspects of his life.

Roles are in place even at the parental level. The father should be the leader of the family, yet taking into consideration the good of the whole family, not just his own desires. Husbands submit to various forms of leadership in their life, too, including God the Father and Jesus Christ. He should love every member of his family and gives guidance and instruction to them all while imparting a sound mind because he rules with fairness and consistency. The mother should the nurturing side of this team, submitting faithfully to her husband while loving him and building him up, yet she is able to run the family when he is away. Parents should also know their roles and be comfortable in them to provide stability for their children.

Throughout the whole process, the parents are living according to a higher purpose in their lives. They are submitting to their Father in the same way their son or daughter is submitting to them. They still require nurturing, teaching, love and correction even as adults. God created the family as a version in miniature of His government in His coming Kingdom. Good parents will accept their place as God's children and raise their children with that same understanding. If they truly love their children, parents will hand down God's instructions to their children as well as teach them God's awesome purpose for all of mankind.

Parents establish rules for their children as they grow old enough to obey. Why? One reason is for our benefit. "Don't touch the hot stove", "get to bed", "do your homework", "say thank you" are all things we have heard growing up. Parents don't want their children hurt, exhausted, stupid or inconsiderate. On top of this, boundaries make us feel safer. Dr. Fall stated in his booklet and articles on parenting that not having rules is comparable to crossing the Golden Gate bridge without barriers. It would be a lot more stressful knowing that you could easily fall several hundred feet into the bay just by a simple steering mistake! Similarly, kids that don't have rules in place and have them reinforced are far more stressed out. They have far more problems with learning, playing with others, sharing, building relationships, etc. if they didn't have proper boundaries as children. Likewise, as rules are made by parents, they aren't meant to be questioned. "You'll do it because I told you to!" If your child is headed toward the street and a car is barreling down towards him, there is no time to explain the situation to them. You will simply yell his name and hope his upbringing taught him to turn around and listen. We should learn and teach obedience first... we will gain understanding later, generally by doing an act repeatedly in obedient trust. If the child listens and stops, he will see the speeding car whiz by and will learn a valuable lesson: don't play near the street. He will continue to confirm another lesson without knowing it: listen to your parents; they know what they're talking about. As children listen more, they grow in understanding, wisdom, common sense, knowledge, respect, and many other things simply by doing what they are told! Many parents expect their children to follow them "as long as you're under MY roof!"

Similarly, God has laws and rules for us to follow. By design, He created and modeled the family after His government. Similarly, His laws and commandments are for our good, for our learning, and for our growth. Our parents are human and sometimes make mistakes, but God never does. Likewise, we become older and more independent in our thinking and actions, so once we leave our parents' "roof" we tend to look after ourselves. However, as begotten children of God, we are not full-born sons of God just yet, so we will always depend on Him in this human life. By following God's rules and laws, we learn obedience and respect. Just as He predicts in the Bible over and over again, to paraphrase, "Follow Me and you will prosper. However, if you don't, you'll be punished and will fail." As we follow God, we see blessings. This proves to us that God is a Being of His word! It builds greater faith that He can and will do all that He says He will. If we refuse to follow Him, eventually, we will suffer as a result. This reinforces the exact same principle. It makes us see just how small we are and how just and wise He is. Humility, faith, mercy, love and justice come from God.

God is a perfect parent and perfectly fair. He tells us in advance what He expects us to do and what He will do through His Bible, His prophets, apostles and His Church. His rules are perfect and are meant to be followed. This is the Law for His government! He instructs us to live His way for the same reasons our parents do: for our benefit, learning, growth and education as well as to build solid relationships and contentment. Yet He teaches us for one more major purpose that our parents can't: to be in His Kingdom!

God created His Church in order to bring these things to pass! We are His children and He treats us better than we would treat our own bodies and selves. The Bible tells us to think of God's Church as the body of Christ with the stated purpose of preparing for His Kingdom. So let's analyze what the human body does... The body is composed of many parts, each with its own purpose. However, they are all put together working as a team for the overall purpose stated above. The eye and the mind and the foot and the hand and the heart all have different purposes, but if they are all trained on the same goal, that goal can be achieved far easier than if they are all doing different things. Playing basketball, for example, would be more difficult if the heart were at a resting rate, which wouldn't supply the rest of the cells in the body with enough oxygen. If the hand were at rest, you couldn't shoot. If the foot didn't move, you couldn't get to the basket. If the eye isn't looking at the basket or the opposition, it can't tell the mind what it sees. Then the mind can't tell the foot which direction to travel or how fast the heart should be beating, or the hand to shoot!

But even if the body is working in harmony, none of this can happen if the body starves to death. So we eat and drink spiritual food for growth while we are alive. We each must individually overcome. However, because we are individually human, we do get old and die knowing that God can individually resurrect us to be in His Kingdom. However, the Church as a whole does not die, God says so! How does the human body replenish itself? By taking food, water and air, elements of the outside world, and processing them so they become part of the body! Just as each cell in the body is replenished by the body (feeding the flock), we must also be used by God to preach and baptize people from the outside world to keep the Body of Christ alive with those whom God is calling. And if a cell or part in the body dies or no longer produces fruit, the body disposes of it. Otherwise, that part can become a cancer and damage the whole body. So must the Church be replenished by new members, feed its existing ones good food, and resolve issues that arise, first and foremost by counsel and correction, and on the rare occasion by disfellowshipping a member. The body of Christ is capable of growing, healing itself and getting rid of destructive elements.

Christ's Body does as Christ Himself did when he was alive as a man. His work was to do the will of His Father, so must we. Christ built up His Church by training men and women in His way. He taught the commandments of God. He preached the gospel to those places around Him and instructed the apostles and 70 others directly to preach to the world. Those apostles appointed evangelists like Timothy, Titus and Phillip to build new up the church in various areas by preaching to the public and appointed elders and deacons in those places to keep them going. Elders administered and taught each church while deacons served the widows, orphans and elderly in each area. The same applies today. When God set up the old covenant over Israel including the priesthood and temple worship, that same priesthood and temple worship was instituted after Judah returned to Jerusalem from Babylon. Likewise, we follow the same form of government today that Jesus set up in the new covenant apostolic times.

What is our attitude towards God's government and His people? I was speaking with Mr. Millich the other day, and he said that our attitude towards government should be one that desires to follow what God commands. Had God told us to feed His sheep through anarchy, we should do so. He did not. Had God said to preach the gospel through democracy, we should do so. However, He did not. He gave us this form of government with established roles, rules and order, similar to the family structure, so our attitude should be to follow God's instruction. When men don't follow God, as stated above, they fail. In the same right, men in leadership positions that don't follow God will also fail, but they unfortunately lead lead the Church astray. Both are deceived and fall into the ditch. Just as "one man" government in Worldwide failed because of errant men, so will the democracies, anarchies and militaristic forms of government ran by errant men today will fail. Do we see the difference between errant systems and errant men? Sometimes there are both and sometimes it's only one. However, those imperfect leaders who try to lead by God's government are still down the pecking order from Jesus Christ who is the Head! It wasn't the Church that failed in the apostacies that have occurred to the Church from Paul's time to ours, it was the men that failed. God's government did not fail, it was the men who led the Church astray. But notice, God always righted His ship! How do you know? The Church is still here.

In the same way, God is in charge of His ministry and leaders. The Bible states that God appoints and overthrows kings and rulers of nations regularly. Men who place themselves over nations, God tears down. He used Pharaoh's and Nebuchadnezzar's own attitude to carry out His will. Even the apostles and prophets weren't perfect, but God used them powerfully! What makes us think that God isn't doing the same with His ministry? When a man falters, God uses that failure to teach him, us and anybody else watching that only HIS way works. God used Israel in this same way as an example when they were a success (as under Solomon) and as a witness against them (as in the captivities, see Jeremiah 22:8-9).

So we should trust God's choices for the ministry over us. God will remove men from power that totally abuse it. He will remove men from power that take it for themselves. Maybe not on our timeline, but He will. Yes, on occasion God may give us the choice to leave a corrupted or deceived group of people and try to relocate where God's people are, but only when a complete and total removal of the Truth has taken place in the current organization, not for some lesser transgression. And when locating, not choosing, God's Church, we should look towards God's government to determine where He has placed His name, both on the style of government and which individual is at the top. Did that man make himself a leader, or did God (and by extension, God's Church) choose him to be in that position? We do not choose our parents and God does not allow us to build Him an alternate church! If a parent fails us, we can't just get rid of them. When an elder or evangelist fails us, do we pray to God to help him? Do we pray that God's will be done, not our own? Do we hope that leaders will succeed or do we errantly desire that they will be rebuked by God because they trespassed against us?

How do we apply God's form of government in our own lives? We have all heard of servant leadership. A good father shepherds his family as he leads it. It is true that God places men in various roles to be in charge over aspects of His Church. However, there are times where various other roles may need to be heeded under certain circumstances. For example, I like to think of the parking attendants at some of the larger Feast sites. If a teenager has an orange vest on and a flashlight waving people to their various spots and a minister drives up to him, who has the right to decide where that minister parks? God's government gave that young man the role to organize the parking lot. It's a role he's been given. A humble, teachable minister practicing God's governmental style will heed that attendant's instructions. God even used 3 young boys to teach a king about God's power in Daniel 3. Know the roles that God has set up and obey the role and office as they apply to you. Likewise, we should seek advice from those wisest on a subject. On financial matters, a master businessman. On family matters, your parents or a successful family. On church matters, a minister.

Ephesians 4 tells us that the very purpose of God's leading roles in His Church are for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry and edifying of God's people. They have a special purpose to correct, counsel and edify us to perfection. They have been given an extra measure of Holy Spirit to do this. Do they apply everything in the Bible perfectly? No... Do we agree with God's governmental correction up to the where it begins to point out our flaws and shortcomings? Is it then too personal? Was a minister too harsh in the way they approached you? People leave the Church over this! It is vital that we think about this! Just like a good father and mother, God is looking out for all of our best interest and wants to see how we handle unjust judgment, too. There are many scriptures that discuss correction and rebuke, especially in the Proverbs... Matthew 18 doesn't just discuss correction from the ministry, but from all our brethren! Do we allow our brother or sister in Christ to righteously apply God's law to help us go on to godly perfection?

Just as we should have a loving family relationship, we need to be edifying, praying and rooting for all of God's people, including His chosen leaders, to succeed. We need to ask God to help His called-out people to teach this world His ways as a witness to them. Only God calls, but He can use our witness to aid in that calling. Is that our desire? To be fully yielded to God so He can use us any way He wants? Even Pharaoh might look back at how God used him in exhalting Israel, God's people, and be glad that he was used for such a special purpose. Let us each be glad that God has called us into His Church in order to use our talents and personalities in the way that HE chooses, for HIS purpose in HIS government! In the end, the whole world will ALL win as a result. THAT, my friends, is the importance of government.