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February 28, 2008 ©Homer
Kizer Commentary —
From the Margins
“Nobody Taught
Us That” _______________ Then came the day of Unleavened
Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and
John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat
it.” They said to him, “Where will you have us prepare it?” …
And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the
Passover. And
when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he
said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you
before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the _______________ Spring
2004, at the home of Church of the Brethren Pastor Robert Detwiler in No harsher indictment of the Salemville German
Seventh Day Baptist Pastor Paul Manuel could have been made. Pastor Manuel knows
the German Seventh Day Baptist practice of taking the sacraments on the Friday
before Easter is contrary to Scripture, but he does not teach those disciples
who look to him for knowledge what he believes or practices in his own life. In
a chance comment to his Salemville congregation he mentioned that he did not
eat pork. Two women who heard the comment asked him about it. He gave them the
scriptural reasons for not eating pork, and both women (one of them Pastor
Detwiler’s wife, who, though her husband preaches to a Sunday
congregation, had become convinced of the Sabbath) went home and immediately
put all unclean meats out of their houses. But Paul Manuel is a hypocrite; for
he does not teach what he knows. He keeps the Passover albeit on the 15th
of Abib. He does not eat unclean meats. Yet he lives in the Loysburg United
Church of Christ’s parsonage, preaches to that congregation on Sunday,
then preaches to the German Seventh Day Baptist congregation on the Sabbath,
teaching neither congregation even the milk of Scripture. He teaches neither
his United Church of Christ congregation to keep the Sabbath nor his German
Seventh Day Baptist congregation to keep the high Sabbaths, nor to take the
Passover on the night that Jesus was betrayed. So what does he teach? What does he do to justify
living in the Loysburg parsonage? He teaches disciples how to sing praises to God,
and to sing very well. But is that enough to be called a pastor? Perhaps the error is in assuming that pastors are
also teachers. It takes differing gifts of the Spirit to hold and
comfort in times of sorrow than it does to teach revealed truth. The Apostle
Paul wrote, “And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second
prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping,
administering, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all
prophets? Are all teachers?” Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts
of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the
higher gifts” (1 Co 12:27–31). What Paul Manuel is not is a teacher … if he
were a teacher, then his Loysburg congregation would have long ago ceased its
transgression of the laws of God and would have turned to Sabbath observance. Most who pastor congregations have been gifted with
the ability to help and to administer to disciples. They are not all apostles,
prophets, or teachers. Rather, they deliver what they have received, what they
have been taught. They are like Crist King’s father, grandfather, and
great-grandfather. If they have not been taught a truth, they have not been
given the spiritual ability to discern the truth
and then to pass it along to other disciples. They might be very good at
comforting the bereaved, but they are very bad at recovering what was lost that
led God to deliver spiritually circumcised The Apostle Paul placed the gifts of the Spirit in
a hierarchal relationship with apparently being one sent forth [apostle] at the
top of the hierarchy. Peter was one sent forth to feed the lambs, to
shepherd the sheep, and to feed the sheep—he fulfills all three commissions
in his two epistles. But he was also the one initially sent to the Gentiles to
take the good news of Christ to them. So Peter was apostle and teacher. Paul
was one sent forth to lay the foundation of the spiritual house of God in
heavenly The first disciples were witnesses that testified
about who Jesus of Nazareth was to all who would listen. Collectively, they
form one of two witnesses that testify to endtime disciples and to the third
part of humankind that will be born of Spirit when the kingdom of this world is
given to the Son of Man—the other witness will be the B"DV680J@H, the spirit of truth sent by the Father ( John
15:26–27). The first disciples’ testimony in the form of the New
Testament canon is their witness … a thing is established on the testimony
of two or three witnesses, and this includes that Jesus came as His only Son
and became while here the firstborn Son of the Father. What’s seen is that not all of the first
disciples had the same gifts of the Spirit, so endtime disciples should not expect
pastors to be both administrators and teachers, or grief counselors and
prophets. It is, perhaps, enough for a pastor to be gifted as an effective
grief counselor. But what if a pastor will not teach the things of
God as he (or she) understands them? Should this pastor continue in his (or
her) position, for most disciples within a fellowship look to the pastor to
teach them the principles of Christian living as well as the oracles of God?
Should a hypocrite not be fired and sent packing? Matthew
records: Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the
disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you
to eat the Passover?” He said, “Go into the city to a certain man
and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the
Passover at your house with my disciples.’” And the disciples did
as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover. Now
as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave
it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he
took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying,
“Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is
poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matt 26:17–19,
26–28) By what covenant are sins forgiven if not by the
one ratified and annually renewed by Christ Jesus’ blood being poured out
for many? Are sins forgiven by Jesus being the only Son of Theos, or the firstborn Son of Theon?
Are the sins of Adolph Hitler forgiven because Jesus of Nazareth lived, died,
and was resurrected from death after three days and three nights? Are the sins
of those who have done evil forgiven because Jesus was given authority to
execute judgment as the Son of Man? How about the sins of those who are resurrected
to condemnation (John 5:29)? How about the sins of those who have taught
disciples to be lawless while these teachers of No good works by a person will cause the
person’s sins to be forgiven. Cain’s offering—the fruit of
the ground—will not cause sins to be forgiven. And unleavened bread and
wine are the fruit of the ground on every night of the year except the night
when Jesus was betrayed, the dark portion of the 14th of Abib. It does a “Christian” no good to take
the sacraments of bread and wine quarterly or weekly or even annually unless
these sacraments are taken when the Passover lamb was eaten in The Lord said to Cain when his offering was
rejected, “‘Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you
do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching
at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it’”
(Gen 4:6–7). A person without sin will be accepted by God, for
this person needs no sacrifice to cover his or her lawlessness for the person
is not lawless nor does the person have a record of debt with its legal demands
standing against the person … but who is such a person, for all have
sinned (Rom 3:9–12; 1 John 1:8, 10); all have been consigned to
disobedience so that God could have mercy on all (Rom 11:32)? If we confess our sins, Jesus is faithful to
forgive them (1 John 1:9), but how does a person confess his or her sins? Will
Jesus forgive a person who confesses his sins, then almost immediately goes out
and slays family members who might become political opponents as the Roman
Emperor Constantine did? What fruit did If a person confesses his or her sins while holding
intentions to sin, the person is a hypocrite and will in no way enter the
kingdom of heaven. If a person knows to keep the Sabbath but teaches his
congregation at Loysburg to assemble before God on the 8th-day, is
not this person spiritually as During the spring of 2004, I baptized a young woman
just before Passover—and Carolyn and I invited the young woman and her
husband, plus Pastor Detwiler (“Bobby D” to his close
acquaintances) and his wife to Night to
be Much Observed, the festive meal celebrating liberation from sin, the
meal eaten on the dark portion of the 15th of Abib, the night when
rabbinical Judaism first observes its Seder service, the night following when
Christ’s disciples eat the Passover. During the course of the meal,
Passover observance was discussed—and as I had with Crist King a few weeks
earlier, I laid out the Scriptures that show why the sacraments are to be taken
on the 14th of Abib. “Bobby D” agreed that the
sacraments represented the Passover Lamb of God, but then added, “It
isn’t our tradition to keep the Passover.” No truer words could have been spoken. Disciples in
the Church of the Brethren do not keep the Passover because it is not their
tradition: they have not been taught to keep the Passover. Disciples in the
German Seventh Day Baptist congregation at Salemville do not keep the Passover
because they have not been taught to do so. Yet Christ kept the Passover
because it was His tradition. Disciples are to walk as Christ walked (1 John
2:6). The Apostle Paul said to imitate him as he imitated Christ (1 Co 11:1;
Phil 3:17). The young women I had only a week before baptized
and her husband were aghast when “Bobby D” said the reason that he
and the Church of the Brethren did not keep the Passover was tradition. Paul Manuel and “Bobby D” and a host of
other pastors know to teach disciples to keep the Passover, but they
don’t do so because that is not the tradition of the fellowship …
Christ will not be crucified again on a cross of tradition! Rather, he will
deny those who teach disciples to willfully transgress the laws of God, placing
tradition ahead of God, making tradition their idol of choice. I like “Bobby D,” but he knows to do
better spiritually than he does. Most Springs in western The Apostle Paul wrote to the saints at Denominations must exist so that Christ will
recognize who is genuine—can this be correct? The “coming
together” that Paul references is to eat the Lord’s Supper (1 Co
11:20); so the recognition of who is genuine occurs at Passover. And Paul
added, “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that
the Lord Jesus on the night when he was
betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said,
‘This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me’”
(vv. 23–24 emphasis added)
… when are disciples to eat the Lord’s Supper? On the night that He
was betrayed, correct? So if a disciple eats the sacraments or the Lord’s
Supper on any other night, then the disciple can be recognized as not genuine,
is this not also correct? It is, isn’t it? Thus, Paul Manuel, and
unfortunately, “Bobby D,” teach disciples how not to be genuine,
for by the tradition of their congregations—traditions that they have not
rooted out even though they know to—they lead their congregation in
taking the Lord’s Supper, the Passover, on a night other than on the
night Jesus was betrayed, the dark portion of the 14th of Abib. Bread and wine are the body and blood of Christ
Jesus, the Passover Lamb of God, on only one night a year, the 14th
of Abib. On every other night or day, they are the fruit of the ground,
Cain’s offering. So if a disciple will not take the
sacraments on the night that Jesus was betrayed as a remembrance of Him, the
disciple excludes him or herself from the covenant by which the sins of many
are forgiven. The disciple excludes him or herself from Grace. The disciple is
not genuine, but is of the synagogue of Satan and is as a wildflower in the
fields God will harvest when Christ returns. And rabbinical Judaism’s use of the
calculated calendar does not establish for Christians when the 14th
of Abib occurs although the disciple who uses Judaism’s calculations to
determine when Passover is does better than all of the synagogue of Satan
… establishing the calendar is a subject apart from taking the Passover
on the night that Jesus was betrayed. As such it is a subject reserved for
other writings. Taking the Passover cannot be put off, for if a person has love
for those disciples whose simple faith is to serve God and who have been so
poorly taught that they do not know to keep the Passover [i.e., to take the
sacraments on the night that Jesus was betrayed], the person has to confront
all hypocrites and false teachers, erring pastors and lying bastards who claim
their father is God but who are really the ministers of Satan. For those disciples who have no fellowship with
which to take the Passover sacraments because of the falsity of the
fellowship’s pastor, The
Philadelphia Church includes the following paragraph in its homepage
message: Physical
Israelites became physical bondservants in Plus, the disciple can always take the sacraments
at home in a room prepared ahead of time as Jesus set the example: the disciple
need not go to the temple or to his or her church building to keep the
Passover. When the harvest of firstfruits is gathered to God,
it will not be enough to be a pretty wildflower. It will not be enough to be
well liked by this world. It will not be enough to be a Pastor Manuel,
privately keeping the Passover but publicly teaching to congregations of
differing beliefs what traditions each congregation wants to hear. Hypocrites
do not make it into the kingdom of heaven. * "Scripture
quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright ©
2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by
permission. All rights reserved." * * * * * [ Current Commentary ] [ Archived Commentaries ] [ Home ] |