The watchman section.

 The coarse of self destruction ,

Jesus emphasized that human tradition can never have the same authority as the Word of God.  He forced people to look beyond the cultural and the traditional to find the essential core of God’s Word.  The apostle Paul said to the Galatians that fellowship with God is a trust in Christ that works through love: “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”(5:6) Extra biblical rules may seem spiritual, even helpful and necessary, but given too much emphasis become death to life in the Spirit, and to the individual freedom to which God has called us in Christ. 


For the Christian, obedience is to the indwelling Holy Spirit, not to the letter of the law, or religious rules or forms.  As Paul has it,“Not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Corinthians 3:6)


Why were the Galatians and why are we so often lured back into legalism?  There is always the temptation to live by a code of behavior that gives us a sense of belonging and security but which sets us apart from other believers.  Legalism is the Bible plus something or grace plus something.  Reader, it is a challenging exercise to attempt the detachment of any spiritual baggage to the gospel of the NT by making a clear distinction between the gospel itself and the religious culture of our own church or denomination.  God would have us trust and obey him in a personal, daily, living relationship that is nourished by his Spirit and dependent on his grace in Christ alone.

as an ecclesia based faith,  we hold to one body undivided  and uncompromised. We do not ascribe to anyone one system of thought  but to being spirit led  and truthful discerning the times.  To being truthful, as Spirit led. 1 Corinthians 1-4kj3.

There are no unholy unions here , nor is  any one person above another, we are servants to one another as Christ is and was to us. It's pure grace  and the priest hood of all believers and we see each other as the temple of God, there no mixing it with former covenant ,nor is there any use of any former esoteric systems, derived out of the Greek culture  dealing with mystery religions. in  thought nor form we're simple a group of people meeting in homes and  seeking to serve our God, through out reach , aidding  the deep needs of our day...and reach out deeply to a troubled nation and way of life in grace and hope , faith.


Given that human nature is basically the same in every generation, all Christians should beware of replacing inner spiritual reality with outward religious ritual.  Those who place human traditions above the Bible, eventually lose the power of God’s Word in their own lives.  How tragic that those who profess to be Christians should so practice their faith that they become worse for doing so.

The danger with all religious rituals and institutions is that they often acquire a life of their own.  Whereas once they blessed people, later they oppress people.  What for one generation may be a test of truth and a means of blessing may become an idol and a hindrance to another generation.  For example, in the OT God commanded Moses to make a bronze figure of a snake and set it on a pole, so that anyone bitten by a snake need only look at the bronze serpent and he would live (Numbers 21:4-9; 1 Corinthians 10:9, 11).  Centuries later King Hezekiah of Judah destroyed the bronze serpent because the people had made it an idol and gave it superstitious respect (2 Kings 18:4).

The list goes , we hope many will discover what it is to be spirit led, instead of human philosophy.


NW