Anyone who knows anything about building, knows you cannot build a house that will last on sand. Sand is not good foundation material. It shifts and moves so that the foundations breaks up and the house falls in.
So it is with our Christian teachings. If they are built on sand, they shift, break-up and fall in. The word DOCTRINE in the Greek, is the same as TEACHING. Today we have many churches that have as a foundation, doctrine, "Teachings", that are built on sand.
SNAKES
Let's take a look at a few of these. First let us look at Mark 16:18;
Mark 16:18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Now, if you know anything about some of the
religions that are around, you know that we do have
people who practice snake handling as a religion.
But is that what the Lord intended. Or is this one
of those Doctrines, built on sand.
The Lord also said if you had faith the size of a
mustard seed, you could say to the mountain, move
and it would move. This is fact. But he was not
saying that you had to move a mountain to prove you
have the faith the size of a mustard seed. He was
using the mountain as an illustration.
The same is the case with the handling of snakes.
He did not mean that you had to go out and handle
snakes to prove your faith. The Lord would look
upon us with strange thoughts if that is the way we
all did things.
2
How about Luke 10:19?
Luke 10:19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread
on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of
the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Does this mean you have to go walk on snakes and
scorpions. By no means. Serpents and Scorpions are
used in the Bible to denote Satan and his diciples.
We have the power to handle Satan, to walk on Satan
and all his diciples. We have the power through
Jesus Christ our Lord not to be hurt by Satan. We
have the power, thru Christ to cast out demons.
So all this talk about serpents and scorpions, and
handling and walking on, is all about Satan and his
diciples and our power thru Christ to handle and
walk on him. We have power over him. Praise the
Lord.
Yet some have chosen to built a religion on the
handling of snakes. May the Lord forgive them for
misunderstanding Scripture.
MENS HAIR
Now let us look at 1 Cor. 11:14;
1 Corinthians 11:14 Doth not even nature itself
teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a
shame unto him?
Now, I want to ask you. What is long hair? Does
that mean if our hair is longer than Johnny Unitas'
hair, our hair is a shame to us. Not in the least.
In ancient times the people of Achaia, the province
in which Corinth stood, and the Greeks in general,
were noted for their long hair; and hence called by
Homer, in a great variety of places, "The Long
Haired Greeks."
Paul was telling the Corinthian men they should not
wear their hair like those around them, who were
pagans that were shallow and effeminate men. In
other words, don't be like the world around you.
Not bad words for us today.
Paul would not have been condemning long hair in
general because the mark of a good Nazarite was long
hair.
So the message was to the men of Corinth and it was
for them not to be like the people around them. It
was not for everyone in all places for all times.
So, men, you don't have to get your hair cut like
Johnny Unitas.
WOMENS HAIR
Now let us take a look at 1 Cor. 11:15;
1 Corinthians 11:15 But if a woman have long hair,
it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for
a covering.
Ladies, this does not mean you can't cut your hair.
But there are some who profess that that is exactly
what it says. What Paul is saying was address to
people living under special conditions.
Corinth was the principle city of Greece. A place
of great wealth and trade. So famous for its arts
and wealth and yet infamous for vice. Prostitutes
were common place. In this city Paul chose to plant
a church for the Gentiles. He stayed in the city
for 2 years. Some time after he left he wrote them
this letter to water what he had planted and rectify
some gross disorders which during his absence had
been introduced. Pride, avarice, luxury, lusts.
It was a common practice for the women who were
prostitutes to cut their hair. Some of the women in
the Corinthian church had begun to cut their hair.
This made them look like the prostitutes on the
street of the city. The church women were being
mistaken for the city prostitutes. Paul was telling
them the same thing he told the men. Don't be like
the world around you. Don't look like the
prostitutes on the street.
Again, this was for the people of Corinth, in that
day and time. We should not act like the world.
There are dresses and hair-dos that are not proper
for the church. When anythings makes any of us look
like the world, then we need to make some changes.
That is what Paul was saying.
The same is true in the following verses;
1 Timothy 2:9 In like manner also, that women
adorn themselves in modest apparel, with
shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair,
or gold, or pearls, or costly array;
1 Peter 3:3 Whose adorning let it not be that
outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of
wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;
Don't look and act like the world. This is all that
Paul was saying. Don't build your Doctrines on
Sand.
WOMEN NOT TO SPEAK IN CHURCH
Let's look at some other Scriptures. What about 1
Cor. 14:34-35;
1 Corinthians 14:34 Let your women keep silence in
the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to
speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience,
as also saith the law.
1 Corinthians 14:35 And if they will learn any
thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it
is a shame for women to speak in the church.
What is Paul trying to communicate in this verse.
The message must have been important because it is
repeated. In his first letter to Timothy Paul says;
1 Timothy 2:12 But I suffer not a woman to teach,
nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in
silence.
This is a bit strange. Well we all know Paul hated
women. Or did he. Contrary to what some have been
taught, Paul was not single. He was married. He
did not hate women. These statements are very clear
when you understand the conditions under which they
were written.
God did not hate women either. He did not put them
in the back of the bus and say shut up Look at the
great women in the Bible.
We have Rahab, who helped God's people and was
saved. She had been a prositute and now her name
appears in the Bible with great honor.
The was Mary the mother of Jesus. She had the
responsibility of raising Jesus in His early years.
And what about Aquilla & Priscilla They taught
Apollos and he then went out and preached John the
Baptist and Christ to thousands.
Then there was Ruth. She wasn't even a Jew. She
was a Moabitist. She married Boaz and is listed in
the genealogy of our Savior.
And there was Esther. A Jewish captive, that was
raised to the throne of Persia. What a great
witness for the Lord.
What about Deborah? She was a Prophetess and Judge
who dwelt under a palm tree between Ramoth & Bethel.
She was the ruler over all Israel.
We also have Phebe, the deacon, from the church at
Cenchrea.
So the list goes on. It is clear that God has
placed many women in positions of authority,
positions of honor, positions of service. Then why
is God telling them to be silent.
I think we must look at what Paul was talking about
when he said they were not to speak. To do that we
need to look at 1 Peter 4:11 which says;
1 Peter 4:11 If any man speak, let him speak as
the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do
it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in
all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to
whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
The word speak, as used in 1 Peter 4:11 is the same
word as was used when it said in 1 Timothy 2:12,
that women were not to speak. And the same as in 1
Cor. 14:34-35 where it says they are to be silent.
It also says they are not to teach. Now I want to
point out that the early church did not have Sunday
Schools. So it was not saying they could not be
Sunday School teachers, since that is a position
that came into existance later.
Then was does all this mean? The passage in 1 Peter
4:11 is talking about preaching. In Timothy Paul
tells us that a Pastor, or to use some of the other
words for pastor, teacher, Bishop, they all mean the
same. Paul says that a pastor is to be the husband
of one wife. He is saying that a pastor is to be a
man as Christ was a man and as God set up the home.
The man is the head of the house. He has a
responsibility. That does not mean he is lord and
sets around and bosses everyone. It is his
responsibility to lay down his life to protect that
home.
Paul is saying, when he says a woman should be
silent and not speak in church, she is not to be a
preacher, a pastor. There is also a secondary
meaning for both men and women. Do not be
disruptive. Don't speak in "tongues."
For years many in the church have said that a woman
was to be silent in the church period. She was not
to have any authority. She was not to teach. This
is a Doctrine that is built on sand. It will shift
and fall away. The only thing God has ever said a
woman cannot do in church is preach, be a pastor.
Being a Pastor brings with it the authority that God
has given His called. This is not an authority God
has given women.
A women may teach Sunday School. There is no
Scripture that says she cannot. A women can be a
deacon. Phebe was a deacon. A women can be
treasurer, or trustee, or moderator, or clerk, or
whatever. But she cannot be a pastor or preacher
according to Scripture.
However, as long as we have weak Christians who do
not understand Scripture, or who are not studying so
they can understand, we will have this kind of
error.
Women, don't cut your hair. Men cut your hair. All
handle snakes and walk on them. And women be silent
in church, period.
Those are doctrine built on sand. They are not of
God, they are of the devil. The devil twisted
Scripture to try to trick Jesus and cause Him to
fall. There is no reason to believe he is not still
doing the same thing, trying to get you to fall.
If you believe any of the above doctrines, cutting
hair, not cutting hair, handling snakes, and women
not speaking anything in church, you need to confess
your shortcomings to the Lord, and pray for His
forgiveness. He will grant it. And promise Him
that you will study, as Timothy says, "to show
thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth
not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of
truth, But shun profane and vain babblings; for they
will increase unto more ungodliness." (2 Tim.2:15-
16)
This is what our Bible Study is all about. This is
what Sunday evening is all about. This is what
Sunday School is all about. Helping us to rightly
divide the Word of God, so that we may understand it
better.
