One more false doctrine, thousands more deceived people.

I have been extremely hungry for God's Word lately. I, not of myself, have been digging way deep into the verses I've been reading. Not even so deep in interpretation but in the context, culture and geography. I feel super connected to what the Bible says when I can see where it took place on a map or read about the same details in a secular source. I don't need those things to believe it's true, but I do understand it better or I enjoy it more or something.

Anyways, I was tracking the Israelites exodus from Egypt when a Google ad on the side bar said this, "How Jesus REALLY Saves : Jesus saves, but not by 'washing away sins' or by 'appeasing the Father'".

I thought it was interesting so I took the bait. It leads to a website for the "New Church" which is founded on the Bible AND the writings of one Emanuel Swedenborg.

I'll get straight to the point. I have some issues with Swedenborg and his New Church. (I'm sure you didn't see that coming.) However, I'm a fan of the sandwich method; so let's start with something good.

+Swedenborg was way ahead of the trend. As I'll point out in a minute (okay maybe two), he preceded our post-modern universalist tendencies by a century or more. I know he had many predecessors, but it seems to me that people should make at least a little fuss over him considering the ruckus Rob Bell caused. So my positive peace of bread number one: trend setter.

Now for the meat, or my beef so to speak with Swedenborg. I briefly considered just copying some of the New Church doctrinal statements from the websites followed by the scripture it directly contradicts. But instead I'll just summarize and briefly address a couple of my findings:

-To begin with, they (the adherents to the New Church doctrines) believe that people become angels. In Job 38:4-7, then angels sang when God made the earth (before humans where made) and in Hebrews 2:7 Jesus was made lower than the angels when He became human. Even in Revelation, both angels and people are described worshipping God around His throne showing that in Heaven there will be both angels and humans, two separate kinds.

-They believe that everyone goes to heaven except those who choose hell, they don't think you have to believe in Jesus to have eternal life AND they don't believe God judges. Holy cow! Where do I start?! Let's go with John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life (emphasis mine) ,1 John 5:12-13 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and Psalm 7:11 God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.

+I think that's enough meat for today. I'm sure I've already lost a few peope. Positive piece of bread number two. Swedenborg and the New Church have something that sadly makes them very appealing to many people. In one of the explanations of what New Christianity is, they state that it makes sense because it's built on common sense. Congratulations folks! You've just tugged on the brain strings of many rational seekers. Unfortunately, human knowledge and reason on nothing worth putting faith in and it definitely can't save your soul. Why would you want to serve a god who is limited to the confines of you intellect?

I find many silarities between Mormonism and the followers of Swedenborg's writings. But I am deeply saddened by Swedenborgism for two reasons. One, the flesh wants to believe his bad doctrinal statements because they are so rational. And two, the heresies sound so close to the Truth that many could be easily deceived. Often it is a small phrase within a large paragraph that turns their whole position upside-down.

I'll close with this warning from God's Word, 2 Peter 2:1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

What are pastors for? I'm a little worked up and a lot tired.

Generally speaking, what is the purpose of a pastor? Is it just to deliver sermons? We get the English word pastor from the same root as the word pastoral, relating to the care of sheep and goats. In fact, the first definition of shepherd in my dictionary is not someone who cares for sheep, it's "a clergyman who watches over a group of people." I think it's beautiful and accurate, as the Word uses the same analogy!

So I guess my questions are really more like this: how many Pastors look after a group of people? I mean really look after, including going after lost ones and protecting the babies. Also, how much time do pastors spend truly caring for people? And how much time do they spend simply preparing messages? If you think about it, how much does a sermon or two a week really do in the grand scheme of "looking after" sheep? Does that hour ensure that they are truly fed, a healthy part of the flock and producing baby sheep? And how much are we paying these guys (or gals in some situations)? I truly believe that many pastors are highly educated and very gifted, but are they doing their jobs? I mean really, does the pastoral job description consist of merely preaching and one or two other menial tasks to assure the attendance stays up? Biblical stewardship would require us (with grace) to make sure they're earning their income.

While working through this issue in my own brain, I looked at many New Testament verses. I started by looking at the ministries of Paul and others mentioned in the New Testament; how they exhorted, discipled, taught and seemed to just be among the people while offering practical advice. Then I felt like God was leading me to places I hadn't thought to look.

First of all, what about the ministry of Jesus? Hello! Why didn't I go there to begin with?! Jesus did preach to the masses, but He spent much of His time developing several strong believers, concentrating on a few. When He did preach to large groups, He didn't exactly coddle the audience to protect His attendance numbers. He spoke the Truth, He didn't sugar coat the tough stuff and He definitely wasn't "seeker-friendly". In fact, He said some offensive, culturally challenging and sometimes crazy sounding stuff! But through those eleven men and others who heard and were "looked after", millions have come to know the truth! Why would we attempt to make any other strategy work, namely replacing true discipleship with three points and an alter call?

The second set of scriptures started in Romans 12. Paul is telling the believers in Rome to each glorify and further the Kingdom to the best of their abilities with the specific gifts that God gave them. (v 6,7) Also, 1 Corinthians 12 talks about how the unity of the body requires the uniqueness of each believer. I have concluded this: I don't believe every pastor is necessarily cut out for that position. While they each have specific gifts to offer the body, unless they are comfortable with literal "looking after" as written about in the New Testament, then their gifts might be better used from another area of leadership. Paul was a wonderful teacher and seemed especially gifted in exhortation as well. Not only did he preach when among the churches, but he developed leaders and structure. He also followed up with those churches, as seen in the New Testament letters, to assure that everything was still going well. What's important is that he was using his spiritual gifts with zeal. Even in Acts when a complaint arose on behalf of widows, the disciples recognized that it wouldn't be wise for the best preachers to stop teaching to take care of the distribution, instead it would be much smarter for responsible leaders with a gift of serving to do that. Lastly, just above that I stumbled on Acts 5:45 which says, "And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ."

In summary, my prayer is that those who truly do have a teaching gift, would do it unceasingly! I hope that the role of pastor and shepherd would be taken more seriously. I earnestly desire that each believer would feel the urgency to use their skills for God's glory. I hope people recognize that Pastors get paid because they should be so busy "looking after" people that they don't have time to make any other living, not so that other believers are deemed unnecessary. Lastly, Lord please raise up a generation of pastors and mature believers who will make disciples that are comfortable continuing this process with their own unique gifts.