(This is a follow-up to “EGPs”)

I have to respond to your demonology answer.  Yes, I believe that demons are not subject to humans truly living in the name of Jesus, but I believe the Lord allows evil to dwell in ignorance.  I myself, along with many other investigators, have experienced scientific proof of ghosts (demons) in electronic voices and documentation.  You can’t really believe that this is just a delusion that hundreds of millions of people are experiencing.  I believe this is Satan using one of his strongest powers, which is the power of deception, to make people believe that some people stay on earth when they die instead of going either to heaven or hell.  There are many cases of possession, such as the case of Anneliese Michel and countless others.  If not for demons, what else could this be?  There has to be a logical answer to ghosts, psychics, possessions, and voodoo besides delusion.  Could it be the deception of a demon?  Thank you.

Sincerely,
Demonologist

Dear Demonologist,

There is definitely deception from demons in this world.  All false teaching and beliefs are doctrines from demons (1 Tim 4:1).  Demons do not directly interact with mankind anymore, as we mentioned in the previous post… this would include supposed ghost encounters, etc.  However, Satan and his minions are actively involved in deceiving mankind.  Demons are false gods, and they are the recipients of all false worship (1 Cor 10:20).  There is no doubt that demons are deluding mankind, but you may be barking up the wrong tree as to how they are doing it.

If there is not a non-liberal church of Christ in our hometown, and one doesn’t have means to drive to another congregation in the next town over... can you just hold services in your own home with other christians in your family (like father, mother, grandmother, etc.)?

Sincerely,
Soul Seeking

Dear Soul Seeking,

There is nothing wrong with holding services in your home as long as you are honestly starting a congregation.  Philemon had a congregation that worshipped in his home (Phm 1:2).  However, starting a congregation from scratch is a very big task and not to be taken lightly.  Local churches are required to evangelize and teach the community (Acts 11:26) and perform all the acts of worship each Lord’s day (singing – Col 3:16, praying – Lk 18:1, studying – Acts 2:42, taking the Lord’s Supper – Acts 20:7, and taking up a collection to keep the church growing – 1 Cor 16:1-2).  Are all of those things that your family is ready to tackle on its own?

If not, the other option is to find a way to get to the congregation that is close by.  Public transportation or (preferably) other kind-hearted brethren with vehicles are great options.  Remember, no matter what toil you must go through to make it to services… you are storing up treasures for yourself in heaven (Matt 6:19-20).

Hello.  My home church has a lot of problems going on, and my opinion is that most of them stem from my pastor.  Where in the Bible does it say that the church is supposed to support the pastor and his family?  And if so, does that mean we have to support him and his family in every part of their lives?

Sincerely,
Perplexed From The Pew

Dear Perplexed From The Pew,

The Bible does provide precedent for financially supporting those who preach and teach… but only if they are living godly lives and if the congregation desires to do so – it certainly isn’t a blank check for bad behavior.  Paul says that when a good man is preaching the gospel, we shouldn’t “muzzle the ox while it is threshing” (1 Cor 9:9-11), which is a fancy way of saying that when someone is doing the work, they ought to get paid for it.  After all, a worker is worth his hire (1 Tim 5:18).

Having said that, someone who is preaching needs to be actually doing good to be worth his hire.  Just like a bad employee – a congregation has every right to let a preacher go if he isn’t doing a good job.  We here at AYP don’t like the idea of being fired… but we also don’t like the idea of doing inferior work.

Another problem might be that your congregation is mixing up the roles of a pastor and a preacher.  Preachers preach and teach; pastors shepherd and lead the church.  Many churches today are having problems because they are giving preachers the authority to lead the church – when preachers only have the authority to teach.  Pastors must meet rigorous qualifications before they are allowed to lead the church (those qualifications are found in 1 Tim 3:1-7 and Tit 1:5-9).  Preachers are not required to meet those qualifications, but they also aren’t given the same level of authority.  Another difference between preachers and pastors is that pastors never serve alone.  There are no examples of a pastor leading a church – it is always pastors leading the church (read the article “One Too Few” for further details).  If a congregation’s leadership isn’t following the Bible’s patterns, that congregation will have major struggles.  This may or may not be the issue in your situation.

Suffice it to say, if this man is more of a harm than a help to the Lord’s work in your area – the congregation has every right to send him packing.

In one of your posts, you made a statement that instrumental music is a form of worship that God does not desire. How can you make such a bold statement? For all you know, He does enjoy it, but you haven't been able to tell or not, so that's why you don't do it. Other than that, you simply do not know whether God desires it or not. The onus is yours to prove God does not desire it. It's one thing to choose not to worship in a way you are unsure whether it is acceptable, but to boldly proclaim you know that God has no desire for it is not yours to make. You don't know if God desires His people to build places of worship, do you?

Sincerely,
Why So Bold?

Dear Why So Bold,

We feel comfortable making that bold statement (and you are right, it is bold!) because God says He has told us what is good (Mic 6:8) and that the way to worship Him in a pleasing way is to listen to what He says He wants in worship (Eccl 5:1-2). It isn’t enough to say, “The Bible doesn’t say I can’t worship God in such and such a way”… according to Heb 7:14, 1 Cor 4:6, and Rev 22:18-19, silence in the Bible is prohibitive.  If the Bible is silent on a subject, we must be, too.  That is exactly why we don’t have instrumental music in worship – the Scriptures never authorize it, so, by default, it is prohibited. We would disagree with you that the burden is on us to prove that you can’t do something – we would say the opposite.  Whenever we do something, we must prove that the Bible authorizes it.

With that under our belt, lets talk about how we can know whether or not God is okay with things like building church buildings or any other behavior not specifically found in the Scripture – it all comes down to authority.  If God authorizes something through His Word, then we can know He is okay with us doing it.  There are three ways to establish Bible authority:

1. A direct command.  If the Bible gives us a direct command on a subject, that is the easiest way to find authority.  For example, 1 Cor 16:2 is a direct command to take up a collection on the first day of the week.
2. Approved examples.  If we find an example in the New Testament that clearly is approved by God, we can use that to establish authority.  2 Thess 3:9 says that it is proper for Christians to imitate the faithful actions of those we read about in the Bible.
3. Necessary inference.  ‘Necessary inference’ is another way of saying that something must logically be true.  Necessary inference means that we use logic to put Bible concepts and teachings together to come up with proper conclusions.  For more on that subject, read “Necessary Inference”.

After finding authority through the Scriptures, the last thing to consider is how specific the authority is.  Every command that you find in the Bible has specific and general qualities to it.  For example, when God told Noah to build the ark, He told Noah to use a specific kind of wood (gopher wood – Gen 6:14) and build the ark to specific dimensions (Gen 6:15-16), but He left the details of how to cut, fasten, and construct the ark up to Noah.  It would have been wrong for Noah to use oak or birch, and it would have been wrong for Noah to change the dimensions of the ark, but aside from that, Noah had freedom to use his own wisdom in the engineering of the ark.  The things that God was specific on, Noah had to be specific on, too… but the things God was general about, Noah had freedom to decide for himself.

Another way of saying this is that anything required to fulfill a command is inherent within the command.  This means that if I ask someone to fill my car with gasoline, by default, I have given them permission to drive my car and take it to a gas station of their choosing.  Why?  Because driving my car and going to a gas station are necessary to fulfill that command, and I didn’t tell them which gas station I wanted, so I’ve left that to their discretion.

There are many things that congregations do today (such as own buildings, purchase songbooks, etc.) that the Bible never specifically authorizes, but they fall under general authority.  For example, the commands that give a congregation the authority to own property can be found in Heb 10:24-25 and 1 Cor 14:26.  In both those verses, the church is commanded to assemble.  We are told that we must assemble, or we will be displeasing to God… but we aren’t told where to assemble; that detail is left to our discretion.  We could meet in homes (if we had ones that were big enough), we could meet in a park (if it were legal and weather permitting), or we could buy some property and a building to use.

This is a lengthy answer, but it is a difficult question to answer without some length.  Hopefully, that helps as you try and find Bible authority for everything that you do.

Is it wrong for me to keep praying for the same thing I've already prayed for?

Sincerely,
Don’t Want To Be A Bother

Dear Don’t Want To Be A Bother,

Absolutely not.  Feel free to pray for the same thing as often as you’d like.  Jesus gives the example of the widow and the unrighteous judge as the standard for repetition in prayer.  In Lk 18:1-7, we are told to always pray and never grow weary in it.  Samuel said that he would never cease to pray for the good will of Israel (1 Sam 12:23).  Jesus says to pray constantly for our daily bread (Lk 11:3).  Both of these are examples of repetitive prayer.  Lk 11:5-8 explains that prayer is like constantly knocking at a door until the homeowner gets up to answer.  As long as we preface our wishes with a willingness to submit to God’s will (1 Jn 5:14-15) – we should keep on praying.