The
Issue Is Final Authority, Part One
By Kyle Stephens,
Pastor of Blessed Hope Baptist Church, Coon Rapids,
MN, USA
Click
here for part two
Man
can sure get things fouled up, did you know that? We managed to blow complete
perfection back in the garden, and then when the solution and answer was set
forth in its completeness and simplicity, men managed somehow to get the message
discombobulated so that its hardly recognizable (II Cor.11:3). Yes sir, buddy,
we can flat sure make a mess of things. I think that I remember reading somewhere
in some ol' outdated Book from ages gone by that "God hath made man upright;
but they have sought out many inventions." Yup, the more I think about it, the
more I'm sure that I read that somewhere.
Now all you New Evangelical, Promise
Keeper, Fundamentalist, Billy Grahamesque, seminary educated, Christian college
supporter types may even yet have been able to breathe out a little "Amen" back
at the end of the first paragraph, for which I am thankful. Not that I care
that much about the "Amen," mind you, but rather I am glad that you still have
that spark down in your heart and soul that responds favorably when the subject
of the sinfulness of man is preached the simple terms of salvation and eternal
life are set forth. I express this sentiment because one day you're gonna need
all the spark you can find, since your respective movements in the main (I say,
IN THE MAIN) are being sold down the river of ecumenicism and apostasy by your
leaders whom, in your disobedience to God, you have not discerned.
I know, I know. I've already offended
and lost a bunch of my readers. So now those of you that are left can write
me bereaved little notes about the fruits of the Spirit and my castigating remarks.
Before you do so, may I remind you that, "...if they hear not Moses and the
prophets, neither will they be persuaded thou one rose from the dead" Folks,
when people turn their backs on the scriptures, and for that matter, on an imploring
conscience, and further, when they forsake clear and abundant evidence and sound
reason, I hardly think that my attitude will contribute significantly to the
impending apostasy now at hand.
This, however, does bring me to
my subject. But I thank God that it's not just my subject. Naw, man, this subject
is way, way bigger that me. The subject is what all the hoopla is about. You
know, all this societal, cultural uproar; this women's lib stuff; this hyperpsychological,
hyperpsychiatric craze; this hushed and sanctimonious reverence over the theory
(yes, dear, it is still a THEORY) that Grampa was a lung fish (or was that my
mother-in-law?). You see, beloved, the reason these problems exist is the exact,
the specific, the identically same cause for the fact that there is something
rotten among the Evangelicals, and in the Billy Graham crowd, and even amidst
that "most holy" and much acclaimed gathering of Promise Keepers. Ah, indeed,
even those big ol' mean Bible-thumpin' superseperated Fundamentalists are culpable
here.
Brother, God and the devil have
been fighting over this hallowed ground for 6000 plus years. T'was that old
serpent's beef back in Is. 14 and Ez. 28. It continued to be his gripe right
through the orchards of Eden and the trend will continue all the way to the
precipice of the lake of fire. Eve? Ditto. Cain? Ditto. Noah's neighbors? The
same. And Korah, Dathan and Abiram, and Miriam, and Saul, and Pharaoh, and Solomon,
and Israel in the wilderness, and the Pharisees, and the rich man in hell, and
you.
The Problem, the Issue, is and always
has been Final Authority. Look, perverts, thieves, liars, idolators, women's
libbers and evolutionists just do not like the idea that by some eternal, adamant,
unwavering and holy standard, they and their ideals are unacceptable and damnable.
And, to be frank, the reason why some of you are in the "movements" and churches
and fellowships that you are is for the same reason. Whether through utter rebellion
at worst, or utter ignorance at best, you have rejected what a perfect and righteous
God said in a perfect Book that, though written with paper and ink, was inspired
by the breath of God, preserved in perfection by the power of God, and descended
to you by the blood and charred remains of men and women who clearly thought
more highly of the value of the individual words of God than you ( and perhaps
even me).
The trouble is that folks, whether
immoral sickos or ecumenical nice guys, have rejected That Book! Whether a vile
and open sinners or a dedicated Textus Receptus (TR) man, the sin and mistake
are the same. You have a problem with final authority.
"Oh, no, Brother Stephens, I read
every day from the latest and most updated conservative translation on the market.
None of this Good News For Modern Man stuff for me....". OK, pal, are you telling
me that you believe every single solitary letter of every word of whatever that
thing is that you're reading ? Do you believe that every word of it is perfect
and inerrant, incorrupible, unchanging and unchangeable? Would you stake your
soul, and the lives of your wife, children, family and friends, and indeed your
ministry, on the words of the book or text which you hold precisely as they
are written? That's what I thought. Don't worry though. The guy that translated
it, that wrote a commentary on it, that taught you what you believe didn't believe
it either, so you're not alone. The fact remains that you have a problem with
final authority. That's true even if you are a TR man.
Simple concept: If the absolute
standard of/in anything is somehow variable, flexible, or imperfect, what comes
from it insofar as absoluteness and perfection is concerned is not a secret.
Doubt concerning the practical perfection
of scripture is now a theological precept rammed down the heart of every student
that heads off somewhere to learn the Bible. They are taught that there is no
final authority. Lo, Billy Graham, women's libbers, Promise Keepers, are holding
hands with the Pope: These are the fruits of a Christianity (?) without a final
authority. They are relativists. They are free agents. The best they can do
is what "feels" right. The worst they can do is what "feels" good. They have
one thing in common: They have no final authority.
OK. I'll just say it outright. The
AV 1611 King James Bible is God's final authority for mankind today. Many of
you even know the reasons. Universal language of the last days, manuscript evidence,
internal evidence, moral character of its translators, inconsistency of its
critics, corruption of its competitors, its fruitfulness through the centuries.
All these point to the AV being the crowning work of the Holy Spirit insofar
as Bible preservation goes.
In the last days of this 20th century,
I can't reasonably expect lost Americans to embrace the King James as their
final authority uninstructed. I can expect God's men, women and children to
accept and believe it. Trouble is that experience has shown that lost folks
walking according to the course of this world, dead in trespasses and sins,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, those who are by nature
the children of wrath....HEY, LISTEN UP....THEY'RE more likely to believe it
than the children of God, nay, than the MEN OF GOD! Why? Because ye stiffnecked
and uncircumcised in heart and ears, lost people oft have less of an authority
problem than God's people.
I can sense that some of you might
just be rolling your eyes about now. You might be half-honestly ignorant. You
might be willingly ignorant. You may not like my tone of writing, or perhaps
you're just a whitewashed academic sitting around on your spiritually respectable
backside on some chair of higher learning. You might even be a dyed in the wool
TR man, who would just love to change the AV in 25-50 places (might as well
be 30,000). Maybe you're a Promise Keeper. You have a problem with Final Authority.
My brethren, an honest man would sense that in his own heart. An honest man
wouldn't be able to rest, much less teach otherwise, until he had sorted out
the contradiction in his own heart.
God either lied about His words
or He didn't. God either did what He said He would do or He didn't. Either a
scholastic is smart enough to correct what God did or he isn't. You either have
a plain, pure, inspired, preserved copy of scripture or you are a free agent,
without FINAL AUTHORITY.
There are two (2) reasons why God's
people have sold out God's Book for a mess of potage. Neither have anything
to do with the original languages. Final Authority is a heart thing. I'll discuss
the two reasons next time.
'Til then, "let God be true and
every man a liar".
Click
here for part two
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Kyle Stephens
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