|
Library
When Tolerance is IntolerableBy Martin G. Collins
|
As incredible as it may seem, in just over a century this nation's understanding of tolerance has been redefined and accepted by society as a whole to have been changed from civility toward disagreeable persons, not as acceptance of contrary views. In contrast, today's definition of tolerance demands acceptance of politically correct views. Tolerance has become intolerance toward those who cling to traditional Christian values. The media regularly mocks Christians, casting us in a derogatory light. The people of this society do not take kindly to getting their feelings hurt when told to stop sinning, so we receive what we call persecution.
Humanly, tolerance is never neutral. Its boundaries change with the wind of pop culture influenced and directed by corrupt immoral governments authorizing public values through self-serving religious leaders. But the governments are only one of the tools in this satanically driven deception to make us tolerate the evil things of this world. The transformation from tolerance to intolerance just does not happen overnight.
During the last century socialist and communist social engineers began using tolerance as an effective weapon against biblical values. Trained infiltrators in schools, government, corporations and churches began turning cultural norms upside down. Then, they pressed the people into submitting to the new cultural guidelines, especially in schools, beginning with elementary school.
For most of this last century, humanist educators have sought ways to use education to transform both the world and its people. National Education Association (NEA) leader, Willard Givens, in 1934, encouraged and advocated this covert agenda for the public school system:
All of us, including the owners, must be subjected to a large degree of social control. The major function of the school is the social orientation of the individual. It must seek to give him an understanding of the transition to a new social order.
Nations everywhere conform their education systems to international standards, just as our states are conforming to national standards. Educational indoctrinators are dishonest, to say the least. North Carolina school superintendent, Dr. Jim Causby, summarized it well at a 1994 international model school conference in Atlanta:
We have actually been given a course in how not to tell the truth. How many of you are administrators? You've had that course in public relations where you learn to put the best spin on things.
Purposely today's indoctrinators avoid clear definitions. Ambiguous promises do far more to persuade the public, subdue the opposition, and create consensus, especially with regard to government school officials. We must always test what we hear in light of the truth and the facts. Whatever comes out of this world, whatever the source is, we always have to weigh it against God's inspired written Word, the truth of the matter.
Unless we decode the deceptive spin put forth as fact, in light of new regulations and the stated goals of education leaders, we may, or probably will, be deceived in this area. In fact, just in my conversations with church members over the years, it has become obvious that many have been deceived by the propaganda being put forth in this nation and in the world.
This insidious program of intimidation, control, and cultural transformation is a process that began years ago and is now manifesting its ominous, evil nature. Decades ago, Raymond Houghton, Professor of Secondary Education at Rhode Island College, predicted that few Americans would know what is happening:
. . . absolute behavior control is imminent . . . The critical point of behavior control, in effect, is sneaking up on mankind without his self-conscious realization that a crisis is at hand. Man will . . . never self-consciously know that it has happened.
As we see the world go on with its normal day-to-day activities, we see them falling deeper and deeper into the quagmire of the sinful behavior that we see in this society.
Government education systems are designed to instill a utopian vision of global interdependence in people everywhere. While at one and the same time, American culture, in many ways a blessing to the entire world despite its evils, is vilified by humanist socialist indoctrinators. This vision looks enticing enough to motivate many to accept unthinkable environmental and social restraints. The Patriot Act is a good example of that, how we have lost a tremendous amount of our freedoms in this nation, and it will not be long before we lose our freedom of speech.
In these education systems, using "zero tolerance" policies to shock, embarrass, and intimidate dutiful students into compliance with irrational rules fits the Globalist's plan. When students are caught in the confusing web of federal regulations, they must endure long sessions in "conflict resolution" and "anger management." These are used to instill a submissive, communitarian mentality.
They have already become standard procedure in most of this nation's classrooms. Children, even five and six year olds, are being put into these conflict resolution and anger management courses against their will and against their parents' will. They can spend months in these courses as they are re-indoctrinated. One six year old boy was put in one of these programs because he said something to another six year old girl of a sexual nature. He did not understand what he was saying, but he is tagged now by the school system as having that problem. The generation now graduating and those to come have learned intolerance as a way of life. It is sure to continue to increase openly in public.
Worldly tolerance can produce false security and false assurances of peace. The Old Testament shows that the deceptions of ambitious leaders have stayed remarkably constant through the centuries. Ezekiel spoke against the exiled Israel's feeling of false security and peace that led them to think that judgment upon them from God was not imminent.
They had received encouragement not to worry by the visions and divination of the false prophets, who represented not only the religious leaders, but the voice of the nation's leadership as well. As prophets they had been in the hierarchy of the nation and in influential places. They encouraged tolerance of the people's sins which led to complacency in the face of God's judgment.
Ezekiel 13:8-10 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "Because you have spoken nonsense and envisioned lies, therefore I am indeed against you," says the Lord GOD. "My hand will be against the prophets who envision futility and who divine lies; they shall not be in the assembly of My people, nor be written in the record of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord GOD. Because, indeed, because they have seduced My people, saying, 'Peace!' when there is no peace—and one builds a wall, and they plaster it with untempered mortar" —
The false prophets and leaders of Israel had failed as watchmen. They had failed to warn the people of their sins and the impending judgment that was coming. They cried peace and safety much the same as the United States government and media try to deceive its citizens and other nations. They say that the United States economy is strong, that crime is reducing, that immorality is acceptable, and that education is better and more tolerant of differing viewpoints than it has ever been. To that I say, well how wonderful.
All these things are the direct opposite of reality. This is a very sick insane nation and world. All that we hear from the critics of the government is that it is a horrible world, but we hear nothing but good from the leading party in our government.
God's verdict against this nonsense and lies in Israel is simple and clear: "I am indeed against you." Ezekiel repeated the reasons for the judgment in repetitive statements. God declares that He will bring judgment upon these lying leaders by cutting them off from the nation because they had misled the people. These leaders, the false prophets, the religious leaders and the political leaders, were all looking at facing harsher judgments because they led the people astray.
Their punishment is to be threefold:
First, they will lose the place of honor which they have long enjoyed among the leading citizens of Israel. The assembly (or council) mentioned in verse 9 means the inner circle of the community. So these false prophets and leaders that are leading the people astray will not have the blessing of being able to be among those people. This is a prophecy. Does it mean that these leaders that we have today who are leading us astray will not be allowed to be in their communities, especially not as leaders in the future?
Secondly, they will be struck off the civil registry of full citizens, so losing one of the most cherished rights of any adult Israelite male. God is adamant that they would be eliminated from the citizenry of Israel. Does that mean that in the millennium, if any of them live through that and on into God's Kingdom, they will not be able to part of Israel because of what they have done? I do not know it; is purely speculation.
And thirdly, they would never return to the land of Israel and so would be deprived of the one hopeful prospect which made exile endurable. They would not be allowed to re-enter the land of Israel when Israel would be restored from the Babylonian captivity.
Does this have a prophetic significance for our nation today as the descendants of the ancient Israelites?
Will the lying religious and political leaders: the Elitists — the Globalists, especially presidents such as Clinton and Bush, who have sold this nation out to foreign entities and foreign gods, be permanently ostracized and exiled from Israel forever because of their treachery in leading the people to destruction? I do not know. But, it looks like a strong possibility if this prophecy carries over to what is going to happen to this nation and the other Israelitish countries.
The purpose of this judgment was to cause the prophets to turn to the Lord and know that He existed as the only true God.
The wall mentioned in verse 10, which the people built, is a flimsy inferior partition. It stands for the empty hopes which they are erecting for themselves, and which the lying leaders and ministers are blandly endorsing. That reminds me of the stock market right now. You could say that it is one of the walls that is built, a flimsy inferior partition.
The untempered mortar is closely akin to a root meaning "to plaster over"; figuratively for example, smearing a person with lies. The people's futile hopes are encouraged by the prophets' lying lullabies of peace. It has always been a common failing for religious leaders to want to speak pleasing and appeasing words of tolerance to their people.
But a minister of God, who is true to his calling, must be sure to receive and impart nothing but God's clear word, irrespective of the consequences. When ministers encourage church members to have sub-Christian standards or unbiblical ways they make themselves doubly guilty. We are seeing that happen with the outcome-based purpose-driven churches that are leading people astray, and even denying Christ.
It is dangerous to confuse emotional sensations and doctrinal laxity and looseness for a spirit of love. The tone of the New Testament toward people's tolerance of false doctrine, their denial of the sovereignty of God and the immutability of God's law, and their rejection of the teachings of Jesus Christ is, in essence, that they are liars. This biblical disdain for lying inevitably causes a separation between Christians and unbelievers.
The initiation of this separation naturally results on both sides. First, let me illustrate this from the unconverted person's viewpoint. Al Gore announced at a 1991 communitarian (i.e. Communist) conference in Washington: "Seeing ourselves as separate is the central problem in our political thinking." They put a lot of emphasis on whether a person is trying to separate or not.
Gore's conclusion was quoted in the book, Spiritual Politics, co-authored by Corinne McLaughlin, a follower of the Dhjwal Khul, the spirit guide channeled by occultist Alice Bailey. McLaughlin was the first Task Force Coordinator for President Clinton's Council for Sustainable Development. She taught her occult strategies at the Department of Education, the Pentagon, and the EPA. I might ask what cult beliefs and religion have to do with these departments.
She states the following in her book:
There really is only one sin—separateness. War is more likely to spring from rampant nationalism, ethnocentrism, and intolerant religious fundamentalism—all extreme and separate attitudes....
What is needed as a cure for separateness is a deep sense of community — that we're all in this together.
Some of that sounds good on the surface but the intents behind it are not so noble. This envisioned community is being designed from the top-down. The blueprint comes straight from the United Nations through countless UN affiliated governmental and non-governmental networks—all working together to turn our towns into 21st century sustainable communities.
This transition to communitarianism is being accomplished right now through the government schools, the government itself, media, business, environmentalists, health centers, day-care centers, Chambers of Commerce, and churches. Its goal is to rid the earth of any one who is "separate" from the world community.
In stark contrast, we are told by the apostle Paul,
II Corinthians 6:17 Therefore, "Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you."
You can see where this is going. In the near future, the world will no longer tolerate Christians to live separately in belief. But it will continue to tolerate sin and all sorts of evil—it will happily tolerate immorality and injustice.
According to UNESCO's Declaration on Tolerance, "tolerance" is defined as "respect, acceptance and appreciation of the rich diversity of our world's cultures . . . It is not only a moral duty, it is also a political and legal requirement."
There are some pretty awful cultural things going on in other countries, such as slavery, circumcision of women, mutilations, rape, and torture. This is what the "one world" has to offer. Since, in its own words, "intolerance... is a global threat," it calls for:
"the rejection of dogmatism and absolutism."
"analysis . . . of root causes and effective countermeasures, as well as . . .monitoring."
"tolerance teaching methods that will address the cultural . . . and religious sources of intolerance."
Addressing religious sources of tolerance involves everyone, because everyone has a religion, even the environmentalists are in a religion. Much of this is covertly handled through the government schools, classroom discussion groups that prompt children to criticize their parents help monitor resistance. So does a profusion of intrusive surveys that tell children to report family values, church attendance, and all kinds of other private matters. Much of this data has already become part of the student's personal computerized file.
When each child is linked to his or her individual computer program, the gathering of this private information can be accelerated and controlled. As Dustin Heuston, who works with the World Institute for Computer-assisted Teaching, said: "no one can get between that child and the curriculum."
The author of the epistle to the Hebrews (probably Paul) points out the superiority of Christ's priesthood to that of the priesthood of the Old Covenant in ancient Israel. In doing so He shows Christ's sinless character of excellence. In His perfection, we find the balance between tolerance and intolerance.
Hebrews 7:24-26 But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens;
Even the most devout priests who served under the Old Covenant were transgressors, they were sinners. Even though their office required them to lead pure and sinless lives, they were, like others, sinners by nature.
The former priesthood stressed the importance of outward cleansing and ritual purity, but Christ's priesthood is effective because of His inward moral purity and His sinless perfection. His life among people and some of His godly attributes are described here in verse 26.
First, Christ lived a holy life; it was set apart completely for God's work and so was fully pleasing to the Father. This term "holy" always describes the person who faithfully does his duty to God. It is not a description as much about how he appears to other people, but how he is seen by God. This refers to goodness as it appears to God.
Remember the command to servants and employees:
Ephesians 6:6 not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart,
We see here that if we are doing the will of God from the heart, we will know when to be tolerant and when to be intolerant.
Holiness is attributed to Christians who are set apart for God's service, insofar as they are conformed in all things to the will of God. Holy people are inwardly dedicated genuinely from the heart.
Second, Christ lived a "harmless" (New King James), "blameless" (King James Version), and "innocent" (English Standard Version) life; it was completely guileless, never at any point disappointing as far as its moral perfection is concerned. Jesus never hurt anyone. In the original, this word describes a man who is so cleansed of evil that there is nothing left in him but good. It describes how a person affects others.
Third, Christ lived an undefiled, unstained life; it is absolutely free from any of the blemishes or contaminations which might make it impossible for Him to draw near to God.
Fourth, Christ lived a "separate" life. Although He moved freely and lovingly among us, He was entirely given over to God's will and so was in no sense compromised by His constant contact with sinners. God's way of life was so deeply imbedded in Him that even when He was around sinners it did not affect him, and He was not influenced by them.
That Christ was "separate from sinners" is true in several ways. His sinless character immediately sets Him apart from other human beings, all of whom are sinners. Also, His office equally sets Him apart, because only the high priest, even in the Levitical priesthood, was permitted into the Holy of Holies, and then only after purging his own sin.
He did not associate with sinners in a socially intimate way as such. He did not involve Himself in their feelings, plans, and pleasures. Though He mingled with them, yet it was merely to benefit them; and in all His life He maintained a complete separation from the feelings, principles, and views of a sinful world.
Fifth, Christ "has become higher than the heavens"; this describes His present position as God's High Priest and as seated at the right hand of the Father—the Majesty on High. That is where we have to look—to the Kingdom of God, and He who sits on that throne, God the Father, and at His right hand, Jesus Christ, and how they live their lives, and then we can emulate and internalize that.
These five attributes of Jesus Christ reveal the character and dedication needed to discern and judge righteously. To tolerate or not to tolerate, that is the question. Separation from sin and the world are mandatory requirements for our spiritual health. Most of us work in the world, but we are not to love the world or the things that are in it. It is a matter of doing the will of God, or our own will, or the world's will.
Here is another scripture that encourages separation:
II Corinthians 6:14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?
Also, James strongly states that friendship with the world is enmity against God.
We have often had reason to see that a worldly-professing Christian is useless. He is of no value to the world and no good to God. No man can serve two masters. People that claim to worship and believe in God have to make a stand, and they have to make themselves separate from the world.
We all subconsciously make lists of do's and don'ts with regard to what we will or will not tolerate. Everyone carries on learned taboos from generation to generation. We all have a tendency to think that the things that we have been taught while we were growing up are true.
However, these things must be weighed according to righteous biblical principles as to whether they are really true or not. We sometimes, or maybe often, mistake our prejudices for convictions. It is a very easy thing to do because we do not realize we do it. We are just going along and doing what we have always been taught. Which can be good if it is linked to the church and to God's way of life, but it is bad if it is linked to the world.
What matters is what the Word of God says, always! And if what we are taught is not in accordance with the principles declared in the Bible, then we had better revise our standards and our thinking to be in accordance with those principles.
With this requirement to be separate comes the tendency to withdraw, to seek our own crowd, to create our own little separate world—a world that is as complete as we can make it. We create our own smug, airtight circle in which we live and which we have set up to run in competition to the "worldly" world outside.
The extreme of that kind of thinking produced the monasteries that appeared in the Middle Ages. Men decided that the way to avoid the temptations of the world was to completely seclude themselves from it, so they built high-walled monasteries and lived their lives inside—separate from the world. Or, so they thought!
Their thinking was based on human reasoning which seemed right to them. There was no Holy Spirit to guide them so there understanding was skewed. What they really accomplished was to seal the world in there with them. Their covetousness and envy of the flesh and eyes, and self-importance was produced in their hearts. Therefore sealing themselves up in those monasteries just sealed that world in there with them.
I John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
Of course, we know that the will of God is to live His way of life and to teach it to others.
Today we do not build walls of brick and mortar in order to avoid these things, but we still have walls of thought and seclusion that are almost as effective as those monastery walls. In this way, we become 21st century monks, doing this very same thing that they did.
In their quest, their noble effort to protect their children, some parents isolate them to the point of making them socially backward. As parents we have to be careful not to be over protective to the point that we stifle their enthusiasm for life.
God's creation is a wonderfully magnificent overabundance of mind-boggling fields of study. God designed the human mind to be curious and inquisitive about our environment. And if our children are going to be leaders in the millennium and God's Kingdom, then we had better be preparing them to live in that setting.
If we are not constantly learning God's way and teaching it to our children, would God give us a city or country or world to run? That is very doubtful.
Instead of teaching them to overcome evil, we may be only teaching them to avoid it. It is good to teach our children to avoid evil, to avoid sin and things in the world that are wrong, but if that is the case, we may be shorting them by not teaching them how to fight the good fight of faith. We just cannot teach them to avoid it, but we have to teach them to internalize God's way of life. That comes with Bible study and prayer and living it.
The truth is that worldliness is not a matter of things, of doing this, or not doing that completely. But, worldliness is a matter of the attitude of the heart, the attitude of life in thinking and dealing with things.
Everything is worldly if your heart is concerned with the approval or disapproval of those around you, just as everything is spiritual when the eye is focused on God. This is a tremendously important point. Remember what John says, "All that is in the world: the lust of the flesh [that includes eating and drinking and sleeping and wearing clothes or whatever your body desires to do], the lust of the eyes [that includes the desire of anything you want to buy or possess, good, bad, or indifferent], the pride of life [the vainglory of life, the fighting for position, for promotion, for advancement], is not of your Father, but is of the world."
What makes a thing worldly? Listen to John again, "All that is in the world . . . is not of the Father." That is the thing! You exclude the Father from your thinking, and when you do that you are worldly, no matter what you do. You do some act or take some step or make some plans without the Father, without taking Him into consideration, or concerning yourself with His will. That is worldliness! It may be a perfectly innocent thing in and of itself, but when you exclude the Father, it is of the world. Of course, we are taking this to the utmost standard to shoot for. Without the Holy Spirit no one can even begin to climb that ladder.
This society does not like strong language and controversy; instead they pride themselves on having advanced beyond all that in every area. I call that intellectual vanity. This intellectually vain approach is one of getting together and understanding one another's point of view; we are told we should not denounce a point of view as John does here. John is very strong about denouncing a wrong point of view.
You have probably heard discussions on the radio or television between "professing Christians" and atheists congratulating themselves on being such nice people and being able to agree. They spend so much time in trying to understand one another's point of view that they finish blissfully confused.
Most people today view the Bible as a book authored by men and tell us that we should not hold its views too strongly. Their conclusion is that we should never call anyone who disagrees with it, and who denies Jesus as the Christ, a liar! But that is not according to scripture.
This is the characteristic of the present mentality and viewpoint. The social engineers and leaders tell us it is a time for solidarity. Many mainstream Christian church leaders tell their followers that if people want to call themselves Christian, then welcome it and be glad that they do so, even though they deny Jesus' teachings, and that He did not come in the flesh according to their opinions.
Often progressive Christian leaders show their perverse tolerance by encouraging anyone who is even the slightest bit curious about Christ to come and worship; the invitation goes out even to those who are just theists and merely believe in the being of God.
James puts this in its proper perspective.
James 2:19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!
So if a person believes that there is a God, he is at that point all things equal to demons in his belief in that level. It is not enough to just believe that there is a God. The apostle John did not encourage tolerance of contrary religious beliefs. We find Paul using similar language to the Galatians:
Galatians 1:8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
That is very strong language, much too strong for the present religious viewpoint in this nation. The object of Paul is to express the greatest possible abhorrence of any other doctrine than that which he himself had preached from the inspiration of God the Father and Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.
We learn a couple of things here:
(1) That any other doctrine than what is proclaimed in the Bible is to be rejected and treated with revulsion, no matter what the rank, skill, or eloquence of the one promoting and defending it.
(2) That we are not to patronize or tolerate such false teachers. No matter what their zeal or their apparent sincerity, or their apparent success, or their real boldness in rebuking sin, we are to withdraw from them.
This, of course, is speaking of false teachers who have an agenda they are pushing; not a minister of God who makes an honest mistake in humility. It is very important that we make that distinction. Paul similarly warns the Corinthians with the same forceful language.
I Corinthians 16:22 If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed.
O Lord, come!
To love Jesus Christ means to follow Him, obey Him and do what He does. This is very, very strong language when it comes to false doctrine and apostasy. The word "accursed" here in the original Greek is anathema. It means devoted to destruction; and the idea here is, that he who does not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and love Him, would be, and ought to be, devoted to destruction, or accursed of God.
It expresses what ought to be done; it expresses a truth with regard to the way God deals with rebellious and defiant people. No matter what anyone's gifts might be, no matter what might be his wealth or his position, nevertheless if he does not have true love of Jesus Christ, he cannot be a true member of God's church.
Where is the tolerance in the attitudes of the apostles toward those who deny the truth? There should be no tolerance whatso
MGC/pp/jjm
 |
 Printer-Friendly  E-mail this page |
|
| Articles | Bible Q&A | Bible Studies | Booklets | Sermons |
