Today is Pentecost calculated by Western Christianity as fifty days after the Sunday of our Lord Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead and return to Heaven to be glorified. As the Father promised, the Lord sent the Holy Spirit on this occasion to come upon and indwell His disciples He had commanded them to wait to receive in Jerusalem (Luke 24:49-53; John 7:37-39, 14:15-17, 20:19-23; Acts 1:4-14). Accordingly, when the Holy Spirit dramatically arrived on Pentecost among around 120 of Christ’s disciples assembled to Him, He came upon and filled them giving birth to the Church the Lord builds, not sinful, mortal flesh as an historic and ongoing falsehood (Acts 1:15, 2:1-4)!
This day then, is the birthday of the Church of Jesus Christ He plainly declared, ‘“I will build,’” (Matthew 16:16-18, NKJV). His intention to be actively engaged in His building project is asserted after His resurrection in the many commands and instructions given to the apostles; ending one instance stating, ‘“…and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age,’” Matthew 28:18-20, NKJV). He also made it very clear who the converts to faith in Him belonged to as He commanded Peter to ‘“Feed My lambs,’” ‘“Tend’” and ‘“Feed My sheep,’” (John 21:15-17, NKJV). On Pentecost and going forward, Christ began building His Church (ex. Acts 2:5-47, 4:1-4, 5:14, 6:7, 9:31-43)!
The Christian and Jewish calculations of Pentecost which means fiftieth in Greek differ due to dating methods. Interestingly, it is also known as The Feast Of Weeks or Harvest and was instituted by God as one of seven required feasts for the Jews to observe (Leviticus 23). Shavuot in Hebrew was also one of three feasts that all of the males were to assemble “before the Lord,” (Exodus 23:14-17, 34:18, 22-24, NKJV). The feast celebrated the firstfruits of the wheat harvest. Prophetically in the commanded wave offering of the feast, the priests offered two loaves of bread “baked with leaven” always associated with sin and picturing Jew and Gentile as the Church (Leviticus 23:17, NKJV).1
Despite being indwelt by the Holy Spirit, the reality of Christ’s mortal Church He builds on earth is that sin still resides in us even though He made perfect atonement for it. My continual praise to God the Father with thanksgiving is that He keeps on forgiving our sins as we confess and repent from them according to His plan from eternity and righteousness to do so through the finished work of Christ until we depart to Him or He returns to perfect us (1 John 1:5-2:2, 3:1-3)! Too, all throughout history some as gullible brethren, impostors, dead religionists, rebels and apostates used of Satan have dwelt in the midst of the mortal Church (2 Corinthians 11:1-21; Galatians 2:1-5; Titus 1:10-16).
Knowing the reality of sin in His mortal Church, the Lord and His apostles gave warning and instructions about how to deal with it and wicked infiltrators of its authentic local assemblies (Matthew 18:15-20; Romans 16:17-20; 1 Corinthians 5; Titus 3:9-11; 2 John 7-11).2 Now, this all presumed such men were not pastors, elders and other leaders in the main! For we are to submit to and obey “overseers” the Holy Spirit assigns to lead us who do the same toward Christ the Head of His Church “as those who must give account;” following their instruction and example (Acts 20:28; Ephesians 1:15-23; Colossians 1:15-18; Hebrews 13:7, 17; 1 Peter 5:1-4, NKJV).
However, when these men are “savage wolves” as foretold and readily identifiable by their failure to submit to and obey “the whole counsel of God” embodied in His written Word if one knows it through regular, fruitful study, we are not expected by the Lord to follow them to their certain destruction without repentance (Acts 20:25-27, 29-31; Philippians 3:17-19; 1 Timothy 5:17-22; 2 Peter 2; Jude 3-19; Revelation 18:1-4, NKJV).3 Yet, because many do not study God’s Word or really care about what it says as gullible brethren, impostors, dead religionists, rebels and apostates in their assemblies of manmade Christianity the religion, the savage wolves devour them by every carnal means as they build their doomed made to order churches (Habakkuk 2:12-14; Revelation 18:5-8)!4
Some have deluded themselves into believing the means however unbiblical with marketing gimmicks and entertainment is justified by the end of multiple church campuses and large numbers filling Sunday services.5 Others are well intended in their desire to make the local church appealing to the surrounding community and culture to attract prospective members. They do so though, by purposely choosing not to preach or obey God’s whole Word; allowing women for example, to take authority over the men (1 Timothy 2:11-15).6 But on this birthday of His Church, the Lord reminds all He is her Builder, not sinful, mortal men with their selfishly ambitious visions, plans and failures.7 Faithful believers are only granted the privilege of working alongside of Him as He does the building!
1 See The Feasts of the Lord, Kevin Howard and Marvin Rosenthal, Thomas Nelson Inc., Nashville 1997, 22, 89-100. The Lord used the two authors to fully open my eyes about this prophetic assertion of Jew and Gentile assembled before Him as wheat in a future harvest of souls pictured in the Old Testament’s Feast Of Weeks. They fur- ther well present His work as the Messiah to make it so in the New Testament citing the “mystery” of His Church revealed and explained by the Jewish apostle Paul (Ephesians 2:11-3, NKJV).
2 Read the two-part post beginning January 5, 2020, Revelation’s Seven Churches In Time, under the category, Bible Prophecy. The Lord leads me to make it clear in this post that membership in a local church is not necessarily equal to membership in His Church!
3 No professed Christian that knowingly followed and endorsed church leaders in their disobedience to God’s written Word will be able to claim innocence before the Lord in the Judgment. You had a choice (1 Timothy 5:24-25; James 4:17)! A Christian that will recognize and faithfully stand against evil in these latter days must know the whole Word of God attained through the spiritual discipline of Bible study and understanding He provides! To help you, the Lord has led me to produce the Fruitful Bible Study Self-Paced Video Course now, featured on our Strong Man Virtual Institute’s YouTube Channel. The video course and optional Study Guide is available for free download in the Strong Man Store. It replaces and expands upon the one sheet free document download this Ministry formerly offered.
4 See the September 27, 2015 post, Empire Building On God’s Program, under the category, Call To Repent. Many of those that build their made to order churches today are of my baby boomer generation that stayed put under the tutelage of corrupt and compromising leaders building theirs back in the day I said nothing about in a recent post--read the March 27, 2022 post, No Baby Boomer Free Lunch, under the categories Biblical Worldview and Call To Repent. They stuck with the manmade religious systems of rules, rituals, priorities and activities in Christianity the religion and paid their dues. But if the religious systems of manmade Christianity the religion are cor- rupt, what really has been achieved in the sight of Christ who judges in accord with righteousness (Isaiah 11:3-5; Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 6:46-49, 12:35-48)?
5 Read the September 16, 2018 post, Justifying The Means By The End, under the category, Instruction.
6 If God in His Word commands the leadership of men as pictured in His perpetual requirement on Pentecost of three times a year they were to assemble to Him in Israel, then, by what authority are guilty pastors and elders rejecting it? The Lord leads me to deal with this willful act of disobedience nullifying His commandment (1 Corinthians 14:34-37) in many blog posts (type “feminism” into the blog search window). I also address the issue in my book, The Strong Man Of God Back To Basics. It is available with the companion Strong Man Of God Men’s Group Study and Great Woman Of God Women’s Group Study in the Strong Man Store, at your favorite internet bookseller or brick and mortar bookstore.
7 Operating in the flesh as it is, no one should really be surprised at the extent to which pastors of churches large and small are falling like dominoes in moral failures and ethical scandals particularly those that enabled them as objects of their idolatrous worship; the cult of personality worship saturating the surrounding culture extant in the churches too!
Divergence and confusion unnecessarily attend to God’s written Word within professing Christianity during these latter days in part because many have developed their own made to order Bible. As the Lord led me to write about in my first post of the New Year, there are over nine hundred just English language translations of the Bible in whole or part today as evidence of the problem.1 A related cause are the falsehoods involved in lying on the Holy Spirit as the source in every case for that many translations rather than owning what it is in ego and the presumed divine concurrence with the right of American free enterprise to produce and bring them to the marketplace.
Surely, it is not God behind the multitude of English language translations, their divergences, resulting confusion and desolation of souls as well as humiliating scorn of the Christian faith by the watching unsaved world or would someone really try to convince me the Holy Spirit is the “author of confusion” contrary to what Scripture as it is written says (1 Corinthians 14:33, NKJV)?2 Indeed, would He who inspired Scripture millennia ago now, in these latter days actually cater to individual preference in doling out interpretations of it after having the apostle Peter emphatically write, “no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,” (2 Peter 1:20-21, NKJV)?3
No, but the same folk that have historically lied on the Holy Spirit otherwise, have not been afraid to tamper with and alter the written Word inspired by Him to benefit all mankind and especially those that are saved through repentance and faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Deuteronomy 31:9-13, 24-26; Psalm 102:12-22, Romans 15:1-6; 2 Timothy 3:14-17)! The Word of God is “life” to those who love it (Deuteronomy 32:44-47; John 6:63, NKJV). Consequently, the Lord has commanded that no one should “add to” or “take away from it” without punishment for causing His people to “stumble,” (Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 12:32; Proverbs 30:5-6; Mark 9:42-48; Revelation 22:18-19, NKJV)!
The ultimate source and beneficiary of the resulting divergence and confusion from the made to order Bible is Satan as I wrote in that January 9, 2022 post! Moved to gain successes by any means in his war of hatred against God, Satan has deceived and taken advantage of persons as individuals or through sectarian organizations to follow their egos and selfish ambitions to create the many types of English language translations that exist.4 Ostensibly however, their objectives are the benevolent good of making the Bible easier to read, understand or less offensive pandering to worldly desires. Naturally, a number of these such as cults, wittingly produce corrupt, self-serving Bibles.
The solution for the time left is for biblically conservative leaders to come into consensus that word for word translations from the original Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic languages be the standard Bibles of primary authority and use. After this, encourage other types of translations vetted for accuracy and free from modern cultural influence, bias, corruption of or compromise with the plain meaning of word for word translation texts be only supplemental. Finally too, dissuade the marketing of any new designer translations that cater to vanity, personal preference or present the interpretive slants of preacher media stars as so-called “study notes” that engender divergence and confusion.
Alas though, fallen, sinful flesh being what it is, the foregoing is just too easy and fraught with unthinkable injury to ego, selfish ambitions, carefully crafted legacies and income.5 The kind of doctrinal divergence and confusion that exists within professing Christianity not only from the made to order Bible, but the pride of self-exalted hearts is not new, but a continuation from the time of the Lord’s apostles in the first century when they had to contend sometimes with each other to bring the truth of God’s will in His Word to light with it (Acts 8:9-25, 11:1-18, 15:1-29; Galatians 1:1-10, 2:11-21)! Shamefully, divisions rooted in narcissism, human loyalties and profit remains prime obstacles to leaders saying “the same thing,” (Acts 20:28-31; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13a, 3; 1 Timothy 6:3-10, NKJV).
While we live in a nation of freedom, Christians are not free to opinion or teach what we please from God’s Word! Our first citizenship is in Heaven where we answer to our sovereign Lord reigning with absolute authority (Colossians 3:1-2). What is written in the Word He Personifies, authenticated, taught and obeyed during His sojourn on earth as well as had the Holy Spirit further disclose to His apostles for us, we are expected to fearfully treat as sacred and live out (John 1:14, 8:13-20, 16:13-15, 17:17; 1 Peter 1:13-21)!6 Doing so will give rise to a biblical worldview toward all of this mortal life.7 Free enterprise may grant the right to create the made to order Bible, but this does not mean God does or that it will be “helpful,” (Proverbs 14:12; 1 Corinthians 6:12-13, 10:23-24, NKJV).
1 See the January 9, 2022 post, Easier To Read Bibles, under the categories Bible Prophecy and Instruction.
2 Read the May 22, 2022 post, Made To Order Spirit?, under the category, Instruction.
3 There is an excellent set of uniform Bible interpretation principles that are well presented by Dr. R.C. Sproul in his book, Knowing Scripture, and widely taught in reputable seminaries the world over. Sadly though, even many of the scholars, pastors and teachers that are taught these principles do not apply them! For this reason, as the Lord has led, I have sought to put the principles and other information into the hands of ordinary Christians to help the willing properly interpret the Bible and get the most out of their study of it in the Fruitful Bible Study Self-Paced Video Course now, featured on our Strong Man Virtual Institute’s YouTube Channel. The video course and op- tional (but recommended) Study Guide available for free download in the Strong Man Store replace and expand upon a one sheet document this Ministry formerly offered also as a free download.
4 As I asserted in the sixth footnote of that January 9th post, Satan’s attack on the Bible is a very important strategic move meant to undercut the good God intends through its purity (Psalm 19:7-8) and destroy the corrupters along with those corrupted by its altered content (2 Peter 3:14-17)!
5 I have repeatedly and painfully not only witnessed this truth, but experienced it among church pastors, elders and other religious authorities during my born again journey. Most recently, I could not in good conscience join or accept the pastorate of a church because the pastor’s legacy tainted by disobedience to God’s Word they expected me to uphold, was deemed more important than the repentance that would have allowed me in. In all of my similar experiences over the years, the religious have chosen to view me as lacking the requisite humility to pay my dues and follow leadership rather than see the biblically taught priority behind my choices and actions (Acts 4:7-19, 5:26-29).
6 This is the heart of every aspiring strong man and great woman of God I write about in my book, The Strong Man Of God Back To Basics. It is available with the compan- ion Strong Man Of God Men’s Group Study and Great Woman Of God Women’s Group Study in the Strong Man Store, at your favorite internet bookseller or brick and mortar bookstore.
7 A biblical worldview stands on the foundational practice of objectively reading, understanding and purposely applying God’s Word as it is written just as the Lord Jesus and every godly person named in the Bible does. Once again, it is not what you or I think, feel or believe, it is what does God’s Word say? See my May 31, 2015 post, What Does God’s Word Say?, under the category, Instruction. At this hour lack of a biblical worldview is widespread in professing American Christianity and among its leaders as a recent study by the Cultural Research Center directed by Dr. George Barna at Arizona Christian University reports. This means that many are already com- promised and ill-equipped to make a faithful stand for Christ in a culture that is intensifying its hostility toward our God and His Word they are failing to fully love and em- brace as “the truth,” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12, NKJV).
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