One problem with the entire theological system is that it sets up certain men as superior to others. If Yahweh wanted a class of theologians, He would have set one up in the first place. Jesus never set up any seminaries, theological schools, or academies. He had His disciples accompany Him on His preaching missions and later sent them out on their own to gain experience. Jesus made disciples—not academics. The apostles never set up any seminaries nor provided any other theological schooling for the next generation of leaders. Theological schooling is of no help in matters pertaining to the kingdom. If anything, it is a hindrance. Intellectual "babes" can understand matters of the kingdom better than cerebral academics.
As Jesus said, "I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants" (Matt. 11:25). Other translations render the phrase as "the learned and the clever" or "the wise and learned." The men Jesus chose were ordinary, unlettered men who had no theological training. The training He gave them was hands-on experience, especially in the areas of love, mercy, faith, justice, and forgiveness. The apostles never wrote theological works for the next generation to study. They gave hands-on training to other men in the same vein as Jesus: "the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also" (2 Tim. 2:2). Yahweh's kingdom needs shepherds and teachers—not theologians above their ordinary brethren.
What exactly is a "theologian" or a "scholar"? These terms are empty and meaningless. Every sect, every cult, has their own "theologians" and "scholars." What determines who is right and who is wrong? When someone rejects what you say because "You are not a theologian or a scholar," they are gaslighting you. If you can read and understand, and are truly lead by the Spirit (not your own thoughts, feelings, or desires that you falsely attribute to the Holy Spirit), then you are qualified. You need no special training, degrees, or title.
During the Second Temple era, various religious leaders arose who wanted to make sure that the nation of Israel would never again violate the Law of Moses and go into captivity. These leaders were the Sadducees (a priestly group), the Pharisees (not generally priests or Levites), and learned men known as Scribes. While they began with good intentions, they quickly evolved into an elite hierarchical class above the common people. They tyrannized the people with their "interpretations" and became opponents of Yahweh.
These theologians used two basic methods to bully the common people into submission: (1) their linguistic skills (in this case, their knowledge of Hebrew) and (2) their status as official interpreters of the Law. People with linguistic skills can use their abilities for the glory of God and to benefit His people, but more often than not they use them to put themselves on a pedestal above their fellow brothers and sisters. These theologians believed that because the Scriptures were written in Hebrew, they must remain in Hebrew; Scripture was too sacred to translate into other languages. When Jesus arrived on the scene, while He most likely spoke in Aramaic, He and His apostles predominantly quoted directly from the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. When Yahweh recorded Jesus' teachings, they were preserved in Greek—not Hebrew. Koine Greek (the language of the common person), to be specific—not classical Greek.
The theological bullies of our day are no different. They follow the exact same pattern as the theological bullies during the Second Temple era.
Jesus' warning to His disciples also applies to kingdom children of today: "Beware of the leaven of the [theologians]" (Matt. 16:6). The "leaven" specifically refers to their entire approach to teaching and interpreting Scripture. Four principles characterize the theologian's approach to Scripture:
- They miss the big picture of what Yahweh is telling mankind.
- They add human teaching and human understanding to Scripture.
- They negate some of Yahweh's commandments.
- They turn the Scriptures into something only they can properly read and interpret.
Theologians tend to turn Scripture into head knowledge rather than heart knowledge. They focus on minutiae nonsense and miss the big things like love, mercy, faith, justice, and forgiveness. Theologians not only add to Yahweh's Word, but they also take away from it.
As was deserved of them, Jesus denounced the theologians of His day with harsh terms: "Woe to you, scholars of the Law! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering" (Luke 11:52). These theologians produced no kingdom fruit of their own and hindered others from producing it as well.
Jesus condemned hierarchical structures. "[Theologians] love the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the [congregations], and respectful greetings in the marketplaces, and being called Rabbi by men. But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. Do not be called instructors; for One is your Instructor, that is, Christ. But the greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted" (Matt. 23:6-12). Neither Jesus nor His apostles set up any hierarchical structures with His Congregation. The belief to the contrary was "interpreted" by none other than . . . you guess it, the theologians! Our current congregational structures and practices are diametrically opposed to the Word of Yahweh: "When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has a translation. Let all things be done for edification" (1 Cor. 14:26). Someone needs to educate the theologians as to the priesthood of all believers, and what that looks like.
Theologians hi-jacked the Congregation of the Lord Jesus and have held it hostage for the past 1700 years. Different theologians contributed some good, but they were more of a hindrance to the obedient love-faith relationship that would produce genuine kingdom fruit. Paul had been trained in the rabbinical schools, but he had to largely discard most of his training in order to be used of Yahweh in His kingdom. Paul confesses as much in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5.
Christianity originally centered on the Lord Jesus and His kingdom—not on the fine points of theology. The gospel of the kingdom is not theology; it is about people entering into an obedient love-faith relationship with King Jesus and bearing fruit. If theology was important, why did Jesus not speak much about it? Because it was not particularly important to Him. He talked much about fruit, however. He taught us what it means to love one another and to love Yahweh. Those things were and are important to Him.
Most Christians today read Paul's letters as though they were doctrinal treatises because that is how the theologians have presented them to us for most of our lives. However, these theologians have committed eisegesis by reading their concepts of Christianity back into the Scriptures. To these men, even the writings of the "ordinary and uneducated" fishermen became theological treatises. Paul was not a theologian! Here is a question for you to ponder promptly: If the New Testament letters are so focused on theology, then why are Jesus' teachings not? If Yahweh has "hidden these things from the wise and intelligent" and has "revealed them to infants," then why do men have to train in seminaries in order to become "wise and intelligent" to properly understand the Scriptures? Does that make sense to you? Surely you can spot the enormous red flag waving directly in your face here.
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Heb. 13:8). Because Jesus never changes, His teachings are final. They did not need to be reinterpreted in the second century, nor in the tenth century, nor in the eighteenth century. They certainly do not need to be reinterpreted in the twenty-first century! What Jesus' words meant to His original hearers is exactly what they mean today.
The further one gets from the time of Jesus, the more theological dogma one encounters. The "essentials" of the faith continued growing through the centuries. Paul's simple statement of belief was this: "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3-4). 27 words! Tertullian's simple statement of belief was this: "To believe in only one God Almighty, the Creator of the universe, and His Son Christ Jesus, born of the virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate, raised again the third day from the dead, received in the heavens, sitting now at the right hand of the Father, destined to come to judge the living and the dead through the resurrection of the flesh." 63 words! Compare that to the 12,079 words of the Westminster Confession of Faith!
Second-century Christians were focused on the simple Christ-life—not theology. They did not add man-made dogma to what they had received. They recognized that the faith was complete. In Paul's very first letter written, he acknowledged as much: "if any man is proclaiming to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let him be accursed!" (Gal. 1:9). If the finality of the faith was recognized in the first and second centuries, then what happened from that point onward? While the theological beliefs of the early Christians covered mostly the same matters that our doctrinal statements cover, they never believed that a person had to understand most of those things in order to be a true Christian. Such teachings were never elevated as "essentials" of the faith nor as something for a congregation to be built upon.
Although he held no authoritative position in the Congregation, Origen was the first person to write a theological work on areas the Congregation had no set teachings and where the Bible was completely silent and shed no light. He also wrote the first set of commentaries, unwittingly introducing the idea that Scripture had to be interpreted by the "wise and intelligent" because the "ordinary and uneducated" could not understand it properly. He unwittingly opened a door for which the Congregation has never recovered. The very first theological battle to occur was between Alexander, the bishop of Alexandria, and Arius. This was the first instance of what I like to call Reactionary Theology. Alexander believed in what we now call Oneness theology. In an attempt to correct this error, Arius swung to the complete opposite extreme, as often happens, and believed Jesus had to be created. Reformers did the same pendulum swing concerning Catholicism, and Baptists did the same pendulum swing concerning Pentecostals. When error is taught, the result is almost always a complete swing of the pendulum to the opposite extreme, committing just as dangerous a teaching as the one attempted to correct. We need to learn to look to the middle.
Emperor Constantine paganized Christianity in the 4th century. The theologians hi-jacked it thereafter. The congregational services of any denomination very closely resemble the Catholic mass, with minor variations. If you carefully exegete the congregational service, every element can be traced back to its pagan roots, none of which can be supported or defended from the New Testament Scriptures (save by twisting random, isolated verses ripped out of their immediate context). Jesus' Congregation does not resemble the Old Testament priesthood or the pagan religions with their hierarchical structures. These were imposed by ignorant theologians who made the Greek to say things it does not say! They eisegeted their own concepts of Christianity back into Scripture, ignoring the plain, and extremely clear, sense of Scripture itself. Your "pastor" sits in a position not authorized by the Lord Jesus. Scripture teaches no such "office," or any other "office." You believe Scripture teaches this because the theologians have interpreted it this way to you for their own benefit.
The word "heresy" today has come to mean an opinion that is at variance with "orthodox" theology. That is not at all what the word meant in New Testament times. It meant a "sect" or a "faction" or a "party," such as the "sect of the Sadducees." The things I have been unlearning and relearning from Scripture alone, many, if not most, theologians of our day, including prominent preachers, would label me a "heretic." Because the truth is not on their side, and they are incapable of having a serious, mature, respectful, intelligent, rational, honest conversation concerning the issues I raise in challenge against their traditions and theological interpretations, they resort to denial, deflection, projection, manipulation, smearing, gaslighting, jamming, framing, ad hominem, name calling, character assassination, and the use of fallacious arguments that have no basis in reality. Their ad hominem attacks against me (going after my character in order to circumvent what I am saying, in order to dodge and evade the issues, because they are unable to argue the main point and can never provide a reasonable refutation or an intelligent counter-argument) are a confession of intellectual bankruptcy. They are afraid to lose their power, prestige, and pay check. They would rather hold to how they have been raised and what they have been taught than to reform their beliefs and conform themselves entirely to the Word of Yahweh.
I have no problem with these professed brothers and sisters of the faith attacking me in this manner. I will not attempt to play the victim and falsely call it "persecution" because it is not. People who do this clearly do not understand what persecution is or what it looks like. People disagreeing with you or attacking your character is not "persecution." When they start beating you physically, nailing you to crosses, hanging you from trees, feeding you to animals, boiling you in oil, or any other means of torturing you because of your faith, then you can claim you are being persecuted. Contrary to the ignorant people of today, words are not violence! Words cannot hurt you, unless you let them. They are just words. Let people say whatever they want about you. Truth is, whatever they say about you is probably far more gracious than what you actually deserve. You are a far worse person than anything they could say about you. Judge yourself by Yahweh's Word and not by what others have to say.
The theologians need to sit down and shut up. Because of theologians, God suddenly became more concerned about our theology than about our fruit. They pride themselves on being blind guides, straining a gnat but swallowing a camel. The word "doctrine" simply means "teaching." It has nothing to do with theological dogma. In English, the word "doctrine" originally meant teaching just as the word "doctor" originally meant teacher. This is how these words were understood in the days of William Tyndale and King James I. Theologians changed the word "doctrine" to mean theology just as they changed the the word "heresy" to mean theological error. The theologians of our day are no different than the theologians in Jesus' day. Today's theologians use the same two methods perfected by the Jewish theologians to maintain their power: (1) language bullying and (2) a claim to special status as the official interpreters of Scripture. While they may have started out with good intentions, theologians both then and now have been the bane of congregational existence. We need to return to the simple obedient love-faith relationship of the New Testament and early Christians, as well as the biblical traditions instituted by Jesus and His apostles. Anything less is not "orthodox." It may be orthodox to your sect, but it is not "orthodox" to the Bible.
Jesus said, "an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think he is offering service to God" (John 16:2). Professing Christians ought to find it interesting that in the centuries following Nicaea, no one was ever burned at the stake or dragged before the Inquisition because he was not producing kingdom fruit. Instead, people were tortured, imprisoned, and burned at the stake for holding "heretical" (real or imagined) beliefs, possessing copies of Scripture (in "unauthorized" languages), holding "unauthorized" Christian meetings, or preaching without a license (e.g., John Bunyan). Would Jesus have sanctioned any of this behaviour? No, no He would not have. Disciples of Jesus are never the ones who do the killing; they are the ones being killed. Real Christians are the ones who are persecuted; they are never the ones doing the persecuting. To persecute and murder fellow Christians because of their beliefs is an utter denial of Jesus and everything His kingdom stands for: love, mercy, faith, justice, and forgiveness. Jesus is not going to put up with professing Christians who beat (let along kill) their fellow Christians (see Matt. 24:48-51).
Think about these words and examine yourself carefully...