THE PATHFINDER
#292.17
WHO ARE WE OF?
By
Elwin R. Roach
We might look at
this picture and see ourselves as free and inviolable as this eagle.
But let us consider and see just how free we really are. For
instance, if we say, "I am of Paul," "I am of Cephas," "I am a
Baptist," "I am a Catholic," "...a Buddhist," "...a Jehovah's
Witness," or perhaps we say, "I am a Liberal," or "I am a
Conservative," "...a Socialist," "...a Marxist," "...Communist,"
"...Independent," do you believe that we would still be free? Not by
any means!
For whether it is in
the political arena, that of the world's social stage, or it is in
the halls of religion, we serve that or who we are OF,
and whatever or whoever we are of becomes our master.
Some are as free as
the money-making monkey of an organ grinder that is well cared for
but is on the end of a chain, and the mystery is, the monkey
pities those of his kind who are in the jungles of the world with no
one to look after them and have to fend for themselves. What a
marvel!
We have family
members, dear friends, and acquaintances who are of all walks of
life. Some are Conservative in their views, some are Liberal, and
others are neither. They hold to no political views at all. They are
Of football, beer, money, business, women, or in a
nutshell they are of a carnal trinity––"Me, Myself, and
I."
On
the religious scale, some are Protestant, some are Catholic, others
are neither, and they hold to no religious belief system. There are
some who are so joined in mind, spirit, and body to these political,
religious, and non-religious ideas that they are literally OF
them. They are identified either by Conservatism, Liberalism,
Protestantism, Catholicism, or the World. One
or the other is a major part of what they are made of, and outside
of a miracle, they will remain as such. Changing any one of them
would be as successful as changing a Human into a Martian, or a man
into a woman, which is not even a debatable subject. But we will say
this about it, cuttin off and rearranging parts of a male human
being will neither make him a Martian nor a woman.
There are things that we say confirms what we are; but there are
others things that no matter what we say will alter a thing. We are
by nature that from which we are OF; but our
conditioned minds can make us OF this or that, and it
will be expressed in our lives. Those formed ideologies in our lives
can also be declared. Listen for only a moment to those who are
OF the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party, the
Jehovah's Witnesses, the Baptists, or the Mormons,
and you will know very quickly OF whom or what
they are.
If I
should say that I am of the human race, my statement identifies me
with that species from which I came. If I went on to say that I am
of the Roach family, this would identify me as being a member of
that Irish family. Not only does my confession declare me as being
of the human species, and of a certain family; but my nature and
bloodline makes it so as well.
If
we adhere explicitly to a certain political party, or we
follow after one, two, or several religious ministers, we can
be OF them, and if this is the case, we may not be as
free as we think! We are not of ourselves but of them, and if we are
of them, we will act like them, speak like them, and even
preach like them. Jesus gave us a good example when He accused those
whose father was the devil. He said, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye compass sea
and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him
twofold more the child of hell than yourselves." Matthew
23:15.
Those who are brought into their fold are so consumed OF
them that they look like their cunning captors, they talk like them,
they act like them, and they are most usually are very obedient.
They we will do almost anything that is even suggested to them. If
they are told to move to South America and drink cyanide laced
Kool-Aid, they just might do it. And I say that; for quite a number
of proselytes have already done so. Perhaps you remember the 909
individuals who were OF Jim Jones in Guyana, South
America in 1978 when they were told to take and drink their master's
unholy communion. With a few it was under duress, but others
voluntarily drank the deadly concoction.
Without wavering, some might believe every word their favorite
ministers speak or write, such as our friends, Preston Eby, Royce
Kennedy, Bob Torango, Gary Gatlin, or even Elwin Roach. Ha! If so,
the laugh is on you! You are not free! If any one of you rests on
every word that Elwin speaks or writes, would you believe it? What
if he told you that Satan pulled a fast one on God when he succeeded
in tempting and deceiving Eve? Would you swallow it hook, line, and
sinker? Some really would. For those who are OF Elwin
would believe what Elwin says. They would by no means be free! Other
than being OF Jesus Christ, if we are OF
this or that, or OF some man or woman, we
are far from being free.
For
example, there are multimillionaire TV evangelists who are
accomplished artists at making people feel good. They are masters at
conditioning people to be one OF them. By doing so,
their followers send millions year in and year out to those money
pits that are never full. Sadly, they are deceived servants to those
hucksters and are not free.
Please do not mistake what is being said. It is honorable to be one
with those who minister the word God, to those of the same Spirit
and vision. It is good to be able to share with and receive from
them, to encourage and strengthen one another; but being OF
them is another matter. And that applies, of course, to those of
the world's social and political structures as well. There are so
many things with which we can be involved and interact with, and not
be OF them. It's just a part of life, unless we are
absorbed by them.
Like
the eagle, we all want to be free, and just about everyone will say
that they are, that they are free moral agents; with free
wills; but their heart beat says that they want someone greater
than them to rule over them. They have been led to believe that they
need protection from deception, and especially protection from the
devil. It is ingrained in them that they must be covered by someone
who is much more spiritual than themselves, someone who hears the
voice of God that is imperceptible to them. It is also believed that
there is safety in numbers, and if they leave their church, they
will be easy prey for heretical deception or worldly temptations.
Margit and I know this by experience. We were warned of this after
we heard the call to "come out of her My people," and I told
the pastor we would be leaving and not joining another church.
As I
sat in his office with his ordination certificate hanging on the
wall behind him, he told me that I needed the checks and balance
from someone who had been trained in the "word," and without having
a shepherd over us, we would mistake false teachings of the devil as
that of Jesus Christ. Without him and the church, I was sure to hear
that lying spirit rather than the spirit of truth from the Lord.
With strong emphasis he said that God would not approve of our
leaving by forsaking the assembling of ourselves together with
them, and His Spirit would be withdrawn as we made our abode in
the wilderness of the world. He delivered a frightful warning; but I
knew the voice of the true Shepherd. I was OF Him, and
another I would not follow.
I
could fellowship and be one in Christ's Spirit with all the saints,
but I could only be OF the One who saved and called me
into His life and service. Jesus was, and is, my Shepherd, my
Pastor, the one who teaches me His truth from within. Whether I hear
it firsthand by revelation, or whether I hear it by His Spirit as
another is ministering it, that truth is taught to me by the Spirit
that abides in me, and it is the same with you.
The
plain truth is that the Kingdom of God cannot be built by or upon
that which is of man. Such foundations and buildings will crumble
when the heavens and earth are shaken. For that matter, the shaking
has already begun, so expect a great fall of man's church system and
governments of the world, as well as the one wherein we presently
live.
A
number of our Shepherd's sheep have been gathered back to Him; but
there are untold numbers that are still scattered. Some are alone in
the world and without any religious structures, while just as many,
or more, or confined in men's churches. But the Shepherd will not
let them stay scattered. He loves them too much to be forever
without them. His sheep will be found and brought back home. His
voice is being sent forth into the whole world, and He is bringing
them back to the abode of truth and righteousness. When His
displeasure with religious taskmasters has come to a head, and His
elect have been proven, He will do something about it. As His smith
blows upon the coals, they will find their place in the lake of
Godfire:
"My
sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They
were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked
for them. Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As
surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because my flock
lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for
all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my
flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock, therefore,
you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: This is what the Sovereign
Lord says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable
for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the
shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from
their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them."
Ezekiel 34:6-10 NIV.
He
went on to say:
"For
thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my
sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the
day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek
out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they
have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring
them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and
will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains
of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the
country. I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high
mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a
good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains
of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down,
saith the Lord GOD. I will seek that which was lost, and bring again
that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken,
and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat
and the strong; I will feed them with judgment." Ezekiel
34:11-16.
Please note that it is only He who is the true Shepherd, and that
Shepherd cares deeply for His sheep. When we understand that He is
the true Shepherd of the sheep, then we will know that the true
under-shepherds walk in the ways of the true Shepherd. They speak
the words of the true Shepherd. They work the works of the true
Shepherd. Rather than to themselves, the under-shepherds always
direct the sheep toward the true Shepherd. They always herd the
sheep in the direction of their Master. They never think of
themselves as being chief shepherds in their own special right that
some office has conferred upon them by God or by man.
When
Jesus came forth from God, He was God's answer to the needs of the
scattered sheep. He was the One that the prophets spoke about, who
would come and gather the scattered sheep and cause them to lie down
in quiet pastures. He had the heart of God, and, therefore, had
compassion for the people and healed their infirmities.
Moreover, Jesus knew all that the Father had given Him would come to
Him. They would come and hear His voice. The voice of others had a
foreign sound. It was not quite right, and there were no strangers
that they would follow.
But
even in that day there were sects and divisions among the people.
There were scribes and Pharisees, Sadducees and Herodians, as well
as the Zealots. They all wanted to be heard and have a following,
but the true sheep would not hear them. Jesus spoke of those who
listened to other voices when He said that He had many other sheep
that did not belong to their fold; but that He would bring them
also, so that there would be one fold and One Shepherd. By the time
His work was done and He finished what He was sent to do, not one
would be lost.
At
first, the Church was filled with truth and spiritual power. The
book of Acts gives an account of those wonder-working days.
Innumerable multitudes of men and women have experienced
supernatural encounters with God since that day long ago. It started
when the first one hundred and twenty were assembled in Jerusalem on
the day of Pentecost.
This
little band of believers, along with those brought into the fold,
were filled with the Holy Spirit. They entered such undefinable
glory. There had never been such awe, wonder, holiness, reverence,
and godly power in the world. It had never entered the minds of men
that a Kingdom like this with Jesus Christ as the Lord of lords
would be born when He returned to them in mighty Spirit and power.
They could not imagine that He would literally dwell in them and
transform their hearts. Even they were amazed that He came and
reigned upon the throne of their lives. How they sang the songs of
Moses, the song of deliverance! How the praises of God echoed down
the corridors of their souls and reverberated upon the citadels and
battlefields of celestial realms! The wonder-working signs,
miracles, and power that bore witness to the returned presence of
God's Christ were indisputable!
They
turned the world upside down as theological minds spun in circles.
People had seen wildfires in the world, but never a Godfire that
swept over souls that consumed men and melted their religious
heavens while standing on their feet. It was like a worldwide
prairie fire that the called ones could not escape, and they did not
want to escape it. Kings and despots trembled in fear, as those holy
flames scaled the mountains and crossed the seas.
They
were severely persecuted due to the threat of their powerful word;
but their numbers grew exponentially; for God was mighty in the
midst of them. As the prophet had previously said,
"...The earth shall be filled with the
knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea."
Habakkuk 2:14.
This
heavenly wonder from the throne of God could not be stopped. Untold
thousands were drawn to God's consuming fire and drank of our Lord's
river of life. Many thought the glorious Kingdom of God that had
come into the world could never dim. They believed that every
mountain (kingdom), small and great, would crumble and be made flat
while every servant of low places would be made high. But it was not
to be, not at that time.
It
was not long before the true under-shepherds were pushed out to make
room for the age-old hirelings, the self-serving shepherds of
darkness. And it was not the result of persecution that brought this
about. It came subtly, and from within. Men promoted that which
appealed to man's psyche, the flash of the eye, those things that
looked good, such as the same impressive attire of the fan-fair
pagan religions of the day—special robes, stiff collars and head
gear that made the religious leaders stand out from the crowd. It
was then that man's religious kingdom began to grow exponentially.
It served people's basic mental images of what holy men must be.
Surely, they could not dress and appear like common people. And
rather than Rome persecuting the true believers of Jesus, it was
man's counterfeit religious kingdom that usurped His name, and they
eventually burned at the stake members of His body. Socialistic
Communism has not changed since its inception, which it seems to me
started with the church, so called. Not the true church, of
course, but that which came from the heart and soul of carnal man.
Those men began their pursuit of power, their drive to take over and
rule the world. Not many women were involved except by their
influence behind the scene of their husbands. Notwithstanding, even
before the apostles were martyred, religious Babylon began to raise
her sanctimonious head to seduce the masses. Karl Marx once noted,
and rightly so, that religion is the opium of the people.
Like
fig leaves, those religious adornments have continued to this day:
rules and regulations, creeds, catechisms and dogmas, the liturgical
observance of "holy days," ritualistic sacraments, traditions and
ordinances, elevating these "men of God" over all others.
This unholy rabble of men, masquerading as the body of Christ,
became revered as lords. They were given the highest recognition and
place of honor in the courts of kings all the way down to homeless
street paupers. Today they are given austere titles to insure their
stature of righteous honor over the common man is preserved: Pastor,
Reverend, the Most Reverend, Father, Monsignor, Bishop, Cardinal,
Your Holiness; and certainly the most blasphemous of all, "Holy
Father," the POPE. I have but one Holy Father, and he does not
reside at the Vatican!
Of
course, they and the people enslaved to their religion may claim
that Jesus is Lord, but much of the time it is only lip service;
that to which they are confessing as the Lord is a figure they have
of Him in their minds of what they imagine Him to be. In this sense,
Jesus might only be a statue on a cross in the cold corridors or
stone buildings that are called churches and cathedrals. He could
also be nothing more than a figurehead, part of their religious
ideology and mental enigmas akin to what Buddhists, Hindus, Jews and
other religions have of their gods and lords. When there is no
living reality of a higher entity, they cannot be worshiped in
spirit and truth, only in the imaginations of religious minds; and
men are masters in creating their gods in their own image and after
their likeness. This is why there are so many mean, angry,
unforgiving, diabolic gods that are elevated and worshiped in the
world. Men have created them according to their own nature and evil
imaginations. It is unconscionable that people bow to such imaginary
despots and are even willing to die for them.
It
was such religious nonsense that began to take the place in the
early church, and the saints of the Lord found no place to express
the power and glory of the Spirit. They became subservient to the
lordship of church leaders who claimed to have a direct
line from the throne of God, and He chose each them for those
exalted positions because they were so special. The masses began to
believe the colossal lie. They really believed that only those with
prestigious titles knew the mind and word of the Lord, which is
largely still believed to this day.
The
phenomena that had once turned the world upside down was reversed.
The beauty of holiness and victory over sin, sickness, and death
that swept over a dark world was derailed. Any similitude of
spiritual truth became a grievous threat to some and a
laughing-stock to others. It was certainly despised by the elite of
man's religion at that time. As these hirelings gained recognition
and took the place of the Lord's true under-shepherds, His Spirit,
like the doves of Samaria, flew over the walls of men's religious
kingdom, leaving them with a diet of asses' heads, doves' dung, and
their own babies. Although they had indisputable power, filled their
coffers, and amassed great wealth, their kingdom was spiritually
bankrupt. This hasn't changed!
Perhaps it is unknown by most that the word for shepherd and
pastor is the same in the Hebrew and the Greek texts. The
words mean the same whether it has to do with natural matters or
that of the spirit. The heartbeat of the true shepherd/pastor, those
called into service by the head Shepherd/Pastor, is to feed,
nurture, care for, and protect the flock. Not to fleece them for
their own gain or butcher them to sate their hunger, but to lay down
their lives for them.
Frankly, it would be good if the word "PASTOR" was
stricken from the language and mind-set of Christians today. If such
an office was so important in the kingdom of God, one that is to
lord it over the sheep of Jesus Christ, you would think the word,
the title, would be prevalent throughout the scriptures, especially
in the New Testament scriptures, but not so. The word is found only
once, and that one time is in reference to ministering
pastors/shepherds who lay down their lives for the infinitum.
In
spite of what has been shared concerning the role of true
under-pastors in the Church, without thinking or out of habit, many
will continue talking about their pastor, as if he or she is
high and lifted up by God's special calling. Contrary to common
belief, the pastor is not one of the most highly acclaimed
offices in the Church. As it is used, it's a position concocted by
men to gain control over others and to be recognized as someone
extraordinarily special in the world. If it was such an austere
place among others and honored title, we might wonder why it is
alien to the written word? Moreover, it was not to be found in the
early church. The titles, Father and pastor, were
inventions of self-aggrandized men who craved power over others.
Please check to see if this is true or not; but we could find no
place where any of the churches that were raised up by the apostles
had overseers called the pastor. Of course, there was
one place in Ephesians that spoke of pastors in the plural
form, which is in Ephesians 4:11, but there is
no indication that one person was over a congregation with the title
of the pastor. There is simply no record in the New
Testament where men were elevated to the position of pastors
that ruled over others. If such was a cardinal statute in the
church, then certain ones would have been justified in saying, "I am
OF Paul", or I am OF Cephas." But
without that being one of the statutes, the true believers either
said, "I am OF JESUS CHRIST," or "I am OF MY
HEAVENLY FATHER and ELDER BROTHER, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST"!
Period!
Surely we can see that anyone who takes to themselves the title of
the pastor transgresses and usurps the place of
the true Pastor, the Lord Jesus Christ. This fact does not
stop churches from that practice, some even have more than one
"pastor" so called. They have an elected, or
self-appointed "senior pastor," "associate
pastor," "assistant pastor,"
"co-pastor," of course, there are also "overseers,"
"elders" "the head elder," ad infinitum. And when you think
it could not get worse, it does. Some take on an even more
blasphemous position and proudly allow themselves to be called
"the Chief Shepherd."
There was a time when we often drove 90 miles south to El Paso where
a small group was meeting in the borrowed basement of a church on
Morehead Avenue. That is where we became friends with Preston and
Lorain Eby and the others. He was the one who primarily shared the
rich word from on high. For a time he was considered the group's
pastor.
We
had not known them long before he announced that he would no longer
be their pastor, saying that he and his family would continue
attending the meetings, but not as the figurehead of being their
overseer. I can remember him saying, "There is only one Pastor, and you should look to Him for guidance
and care rather than to me." He made it clear
that Jesus was their Pastor. He let them know that if he had
something by the Spirit to share, he would share it, and everyone
else should do the same. The small body of saints were told that our
Lord's way is to have a body ministry, not a one man or woman
production.
One
thing, even back then in the early 1970s, he would not allow anyone
to call him "the pastor" of their group. I also
remember him having written about this, saying:
"I instructed the brethren among whom I
labored in years past that they should never call me 'the pastor' or
'their pastor' because the Lord alone IS THE PASTOR. I may be
'a pastor,' but never 'THE pastor.' If anyone comes inquiring about
'the pastor' they should be told that the pastor is the Lord.
"Should the inquirer pursue the point they could then explain that
Bro. Eby is one of the servants, an under-shepherd, along with
elders and ministries; but THE LORD IS T-H-E P-A-S-T-0-R. We have
been so completely saturated, so thoroughly brain-washed in the
errors of the religious systems that we do by rote and speak by
habit the ridiculous absurdities imbibed in the pews of Babylon. How
astounded we are when once we learn the truth and discover that the
cherished teaching or hallowed practice we have unwittingly assumed
to be godly and spiritual is not only unfounded in the Word of God,
but is actually an abomination in the sight of God! And should any
who read these lines doubt what I say about the absence of the
ministry of 'the pastor' from the New Testament church, I invite him
or her to look up the term in Strong's Concordance." — End quote.
So
now, who is our shepherd, our pastor? From where or whom do we come?
In what church were we born? Who or what exactly is it that we are
OF? Is it someone or something in the great metropolis
OF man's religion? OF football? OF
Hollywood? OF politics? OF self?
All of these are engaged in the spirit of war causing them to
perpetually contend for supremacy over the Lord in one way or the
other.
Lastly, does our life, perhaps, revolve around and subsist on
multimillionaire religious motivators, or is it Jesus Christ,
the one who said, "I AM
the way THE TRUTH and the life, and THE TRUTH WILL MAKE
OUR FREE?" So, if you don't mind me
also asking, what is our origin, what is our makeup? Is it the world
of the first Adam, or the heavens of the Last Adam? Did the
religious orders of the Baptists, the Assemblies of God, or the
Catholic Church bring us forth, or was it New Jerusalem, the
mother of us all? The answer should be very clear.
Now,
WHO or WHAT are we OF?
Please fill in the blank: "I am OF ________________!"
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