In What Authority I say These?

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? -- Romans 8:31

By World systems, any person desiring an office must met the qualities of the position they will occupy. A janitor no matter how hard-working he is cannot be instantly promoted to managerial position or else it would be catastrophic, not unless the janitor bought the company. But in God standard, when He choose He seek the persons heart and not what he is capable of doing. Remember Moses speech difficulties? How about the young David who was match against Goliath, and how about the 12 disciples are they scholars or scribes? 

"By What Authority Do You Do These Things?"

Matthew 21:23; Mark 11:28 & Luke 20:2

  . In our generation does one need to attend Bible school or seminary to preach the Kingdom of God? I personally believe that it is not necessary to have a college degree or PhD to preach God's word or even to become a pastor. When we do require the apostleship or pastoral position with educational background we became like the judgmental unbelievers encounter by the apostle in Acts 4:13 and besides, there is a danger of organizational attachment, that we will discuss later. First, let us re-examined how most church organization became standardized and limit the church growth.  

   “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13)

   Most churches requires that their leaders, pastor or priest to attend Bible College and Seminary respectively but it is surprising that there is no Biblical basis for this and in fact was contrary to Bible principle...

“At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” (Matthew 11:25)

   Why then Jesus  should be thankful that it was hidden to the wise and prudent? Does it mean Jesus is against the wise and prudent? Is Jesus against learned men? Definitely not! What Jesus is stressing here is that with regards to spiritual understanding, no amount of education can fathom the wisdom of God. You simply can't learn theology (or understanding of god) in school curriculum. It is a spiritual calling and not a worldly profession...

John 3:8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

EDUCATION AND GRACE
    This is not to boast myself. Allow me to share a little something about myself, how I was able to blog, share, and sometimes debunk other false beliefs even if I have not attended any Bible school, in fact, I never consider myself religious.  I am just a regular Christian. 
   My love alone for God and to know His "perfect will" lead me to listen to His voice more often. The approval of God is very important to me, although I must admit I still do commit mistakes and sins every now and then BUT I never let it conquers me. There is one verse that I have always cling into since the beginning of my conversion is found in Proverbs 16:3 "Commit thy works unto The LORD and thy thoughts shall be established." 
   I read and re-read the Bible without end, I continually study and meditate on His word. I taste every essence of God's revelations in the Bible. I search for materials and resources that will make my faith grow, not strictly confine to the Holy Bible as I don't want to be over-zealot but not at all liberal. I weigh words against words. 
   I used to be denominational, meaning I cling so much to where I belong, trust the pastor and preacher all the way...but after some revelations that I've seen how this world works, I became critical thinker and begun to "Test" every spirit.
  I even sought the teachings of other denominations and faith, to understand where they are coming from. I think, most hatred and quarrels begin when you become dogmatic to another positions...the tendency to close your ears to everything they said, is not beneficial for learning. Everyone has the right to voice their faith. I even test myself if I can stand on the position of an Atheist but Honestly, I don't have enough faith to be an Atheist. 
   For all we know, our misunderstanding of "Truth" stem from our religious "zeal" and the result is we are shutting the door of our hearts to let it flow easily. We became "hardcore" to our local church and no amount of persuasion can make us admit our fault. 
   I regularly check and evaluate myself if I am working and deciding according to the Spirit of God. Pardon me, it is not my intention to exalt myself by sharing these, I just want to share how the Holy Spirit work in me. I always make sure there is scriptural basis on everything I do...

 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?-- 2 Cor. 13:5

    Self-examinations should be done regularly...if possible every time you sit alone with God. By doing a regular check-up, and trusting God that He will reveal the answer, and I have proven even to myself that God is not an isolated persona, or an unapproachable King but is very willing to reveal the truth...He does reply. If one continually have fellowship with the Holy Spirit, you will know what I am saying. 


 THE DANGER OF EDUCATION 

Matthew 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

   I found this article revealing and factual and I want to share it to you, and something one should think about, with regards to your church memberships. Although it speaks of church leadership position, this also applied to regular church member. This is from Biblical Research Reports:

Education by the church or seminary has the potential of being spiritually dangerous because it tends to lock a person into the particular theological belief system taught by the seminary. If that person is in your denomination or church you probably think it is something good. But think about all those people in other denominations or churches that you disagree with, who have bought into error and will not turn from it. The same thing can happen to those in your church. It is my observation that after a person is a Christian for several years they buy into a certain theological or denominational belief system. They will not change from that theological belief, with a few exceptions, even though they are given scriptural proof to the opposite. They will reinterpret plain passages of Scripture that show they are wrong, to fit their theology. The person’s theology becomes the filter through which Scripture is judged and interpreted, rather than searching the Scriptures to determine what is truth, and then patterning one’s belief to follow Scripture. The result is, with a few exceptions, that people will not change: a Baptist will not become a Pentecostal, a Pentecostal will not become a Mennonite, and a Mennonite will not become a Baptist.

Educated people tend to filter what they believe to be truth based on what they know and their own opinions rather than going to the Scriptures to see if it is true or not. They will tend to believe error to be truth until the day they die, and never check it out in Scripture because they trust those with a PhD who taught them. In my researching of various Biblical subjects, I have found many false teachings being taught as truth by those who were highly educated. They were merely repeating what they had read or heard from others who were also highly educated and they did not research the matter for themselves. Often it only took a little research to find out it was obviously error. (SOURCE HERE)

   

   

"I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied" (Jer. 23:21).