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Father, we praise and thank you this evening for your unspeakable goodness to us. Thank you for visiting us daily with mercies new each morning. Lord Jesus, set our eyes upon you - keep us ever aware that You alone are the Author and the Finisher of our Faith, the one who will complete the good work you started in us as we turned our hearts and lives to you. Holy Spirit, again we welcome you and ask that you fill our hearts, minds and souls with that wonderfully personal touch you give us all that we might see the Truth you are sent to show us. Glorify yourself in us as we open our hearts and focus our minds to what You will show us in your Word, to thy glory alone, in the name of Jesus, amen!

We studied through James 2 last week and saw what the Scriptures there in their context really mean regarding the relationship of "works" to "faith" and how Gwen Shamblin misses the mark on properly interpreting them, asserting they mean that works are what merit God's favor, and that faith in God's grace isn't enough to bring salvation to those seeking it from God. Now we want to take a look at a second Scripture she uses routinely to hammer home this skewed point, found in Matthew 7:21.

WHAT GWEN TEACHES ABOUT MATTHEW 7:21

>>It is not with your mouth that you will be saved! The demons believe and tremble! Your claimed Lord and Master said very clearly, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but ONLY HE WHO DOES THE WILL OF MY FATHER who is in heaven." (Matt. 7:21) "Only he who does," Jesus said. That is finite and absolute. How come you are not so sure of this? So where have you been? Why did you not know that you would not enter heaven if you went against the will of the Father? .. The church is under the most powerful delusion in the history of mankind: you are a deliberate or continual sinner who is covered by an unconditional grace that is not found in the New Testament. The Jesus of the Bible says, "Not everyone...will enter the kingdom of heaven but only he who DOES the will of my Father..." (Matthew 7:21)<< (RF website)

>>I want to thank those who are hearing the message and using all of their efforts to concentrate on doing the will of God. Read through these Scriptures and underline the words "do the will of God," because it is those who do the will of God who will be saved: Matthew 7:21 .. "<< (WDA Guide, Week 5, p. 65)

>> .. the only ones who were saved were not those who heard the word of God, but rather those who put it into practice (Matthew 7:21-27) .. << (WDA Guide, Week 5, p. 122)

>>Changed DOING into DONE .. Matthew 7:21<< (RF website)

What is Gwen teaching here? It's quite clear: personal confession of faith in Christ alone isn't enough to gain salvation and access to heaven. She teaches that Jesus is contrasting the claims of those who merely call Him "Lord" to those who are doing the will of His Father. You cannot simply call Jesus Lord without "doing" His will. He is saying that personal effort and scrupulous attention to detail in defining and doing the will of God is what He expects of those who expect to enter the Kingdom of heaven: "only he who does .." This is what the "Jesus of the Bible" is commanding of those who would say they are His disciples.

From this we see why God is sending grave, crushing rebuke upon the adrift and backslidden Christian Church: it will be barred from heaven for fostering a comfortable "unconditional grace" that has rocked generations of sinners to a sleep of spiritual death. She further asserts that it has taught people that the doing of God's will has been completed, done, and finished, meaning no one has to do anything any more except believe and confess by "mental affirmation," as we learned last week. Gwen commends those heeding "the message" she is sending because of their wholehearted and total commitment to "doing the will of God." She encourages that the phrase itself as seen in a list of Scriptures she has compiled be the main focus of personal study. Those who DO the will of God are the ones going to be saved.

Again, Gwen's claims sound so Biblically founded, so rooted in objective spiritual reality that they cannot be denied. Jesus said, we are told, that we have to do God's will to be saved and that in this "doing" we may find the path to eternal life since it is what results in true and total obedience to God. For each and every disciple of "the message", this logically concludes in the painstaking attention to every bit of dietary detail ("from growl to growl" as she would put it) and moral minutiae gleaned from frequent contact with a persuasive and pervasive WDW/RF culture. For this, she concludes, is how we can see that someone actually proves their faithfulness, by a "total obedience" to "doing" God's will for one's life.

MATTHEW 7:21 RIGHTLY DIVIDED

Once again, with faith in the power of the Spirit of God to open our eyes of understanding, let's look again into the words of Jesus in their Biblical context as well as the Scriptures that speak most directly to the concepts raised by our Lord here. Our overview of Matthew 7:21's context is longer than I wanted it to be, yet it is exceedingly important, so I hope you will bear with me as we discuss this. We will be using the NIV version of Scripture.

Matthew 7:21 is one verse taken from the well known "Sermon On The Mount" that Jesus taught one day at the outset of His ministry in Galilee, a "sermon" recorded from Matthew 5 through 7. This was not actually a sermon, but Jesus' disarmingly simple, yet profound discourses given to Israel that were his call for them to make room in their lives for the new era that His ministry and Gospel were heralding. He began to describe a new spiritual direction to the people gathered from across Israel on that dry, sunny Palestinian hill two millennia ago that was in the sharpest contrast to the work-centered traditions upheld by the Pharisees and the scribes as the true path to God. It was the first time that Israel had ever heard of such a practical spirituality that cut against the grain of every cherished bias, pet doctrine and esteemed religious tradition that they'd been taught.

It seemed so radical because it was drawn from Jesus' warning in 5:17 that He had not come "to abolish the Law or the Prophets .. "but to fulfill them"(NIV).
The word "fulfill," drawn from the Greek word "pleroo," is a reference to the complete accomplishment of something being done, of a bringing to absolute completion of an effort or task that had been undertaken. And this is precisely what Jesus meant as he explained why He had been born to the Virgin Mary as son of Man, conceived by the Holy Spirit as Son of God. The walk of Jesus Christ on the earth was not only to be a sacrifice for the sins of the world but to once and for all live out among sinful mankind a holy life demonstrating perfect submission to the Law of God and the fulfillment of the Prophets who'd foreseen His gracious coming and ministry. His perfectly lived life, Jesus said, would mark the total and complete fulfillment of the demands of the Law - in His very person, the Law would be perfectly kept for the first and only time in human history and all of the oracles of the holy Prophets would be bodily manifest through the life of only one of the sons of David. In short, all of truth, grace and God's glory would be embodied in Jesus Christ, our Lord, alone.

The fullest context of Matthew 7:21 would therefore be drawn from a good study of these chapters, but we simply don't have time here to cover that, of course. As we see, the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 5-7 here was not just a call for a higher morality, a deeper spirituality, or a more compassionate personal ethic. Jesus kept emphasizing over and over His contrast between the demands of human tradition and His teaching ("But I say unto you ..). By raising this issue, he drove home the point that His authoritative teaching raised a standard never seen before (remember the words of the guards of the temple in John 7:46
"No one ever spoke the way this man does"). In short, Jesus' teaching and truth claims firmly established the unique nature of His person and ministry. He alone could say what He did and then measure up to His claims.

What has this to do with Gwen Shamblin's teaching? It has everything to do with it as we shall see. This understanding of the context of Matthew 5-7 provides for us the framework for understanding Matthew 7:21 itself and what Jesus meant there.

Let's now examine the passages of Matthew 7 that provide the clearest internal evidence of context with verse 21, these being verses 13 through 27.

Verses 1 through 5 feature Jesus' teaching on hypocritical judgment, Verse 6 carries His warning of careless sharing of sacred things with those who don't revere them, and His encouraging assurance of God's willingness to send blessings in response to those who seek Him diligently is found in verses 7 through 12. The focus of verses 13-27, when considered carefully, appear to all refer to some of the most sobering warnings that Jesus has ever given. He charges those seeking the way to eternal life to consider the multiple dangers facing them which could lead them astray - perils not only around them, but within them.

Matt 7:13-27

13        "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
14        But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

The Lord uses symbolism as He describes two gateways, one large and wide and the other small and narrow in these verses. It is clear that the "wide" and "broad" road that one gate opens up to is a path that only leads to destruction - and many, sadly, are strolling down this accursed roadway to ruin. The yawning, gaping width of the one gateway readily accepts a vast multitude of people into itself. This great host of people, being as diverse as a large number of people would be, hold multiple convictions and truth claims that are elements of the path itself; still, for all of its allure, it is a path leading to death.

But the other path is one that Jesus calls "small" and "narrow," a way found by the few, but leading to the preservation of their very lives. It's a gateway embodied in the person of Jesus Christ Himself. He is the One who speaks of Himself as "the gate" (John 10:9-10) through which "whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture." He also calls Himself in John 14:6 "the way and the truth and the life." By these verses, we can see that Jesus is once more alluding by parable that there is only one way to eternal life - and HE is that Way. The warning is crystal clear: take heed of those beckoning you to join them on the well-trod, colorful parkway to perdition! The road to life is one few travel down because of their stumbling over the Gate Himself.

15        "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.
16        By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
17        Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
18        A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.
19        Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20        Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

The warnings of Jesus continue as He gives instruction on how to discern those pretensive figures in religious life whom he calls "false prophets." These are those people who persist in setting themselves forth as oracular seers among us who most perfectly hear and foretell the deep things of God but who are, as Yahweh in Jeremiah 14:14 flatly states, "prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds." They will approach and infiltrate the God-fearing community under the guise of innocence and holiness, but their thin veneer cannot long hide their true nature marked by cruelty and vicious ferocity.

Jesus tears these presumptuous masks off to establish an important principle for all of those who would heed the voice those claiming to be prophets: no matter how great their claim or dazzling the delivery, in the end a true prophet of God is proven by their stability of character and purity of fruit. Discussing this would take us completely out of our study, but I am certain we would agree that Scripture teaches the fruit of a God-sent prophet as that of sound doctrine, prophecies that come true, holy character, and a ministry that directs people's to turn back to God. The way in which the professing prophet actually lives out and embodies these values out before all men ultimately proves just how true they really are. By using a parable depicting fruit picked off from different trees and the comparison between good and bad samples of fruit, Jesus is further emphasizing this essential test to discern between false and true prophets. Good and healthy trees will not produce poisonous, noxious fruit that is bitter and indigestible and one won't be picking good fruit out of weeds or wild plants.

The character traits and lifestyle choices of the prophet are the fruit Jesus is focusing in on. A direct Biblical cross-reference to what Jesus speaks of would be certainly revealed in a holy life through the fruit of the Spirit as explained in the timeless teaching of Paul in Galatians 5:22-25. No false prophet can mimic in their own fleshly strength the changed life created by the Spirit Himself for very long. Their fallen, sinful character at some point would be found out. Such a test, Jesus says, it what shows whether some one is truly God sent or not.

21        "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
22        Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?'
23        Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

Here, our Lord Jesus gives what is one of the most sobering warnings He ever delivers in the Gospel accounts. It is cautionary in nature yet convicting of practice. Entrance into the Kingdom of heaven is based upon the conditional aspect of our obedience to the will of God, and sadly "many" will find themselves shut out and even expelled from God's presence at a definite point of time, judged by Jesus Himself to be "evildoers" He's never known. The tragic nature of this arises out of the plain fact that the "many" will be scrupulously religious people who exercised a practical spirituality in the name of Jesus (prophecy, deliverance, and miracles) which it is clear they believe was a demonstration of their personal righteousness. Even their innumerable and desperate confessions of Him as "Lord" will mean nothing in "that day" when all shall give account to God before His judgment seat, when the Books of Life are opened and we are judged by our deeds.

"Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment .."
Heb 9:27 (NIV)

This is a plain truth Jesus has spelled out in the clearest possible terms: there will be those who think they've secured their place in the kingdom of heaven by what they DO who He warns will have missed it completely. The supremely devastating irony of this mustn't be lost here. Those who "do" good things certainly would do so thinking they are fulfilling the will of God. But the religious works, disciplines, sacrifices and spiritual gift manifestations which are supposed to be a marker of approval before God are weighed and found wanting, and become part of a junkpile of religiosity Jesus could care less about. And this will not involve some small fringe group alone, but a multitude, a vast host of people that will find themselves naked before God in the searing light of His awful yet perfect judgment and who will be driven from Him for eternity.

It is the right relationship with Him, Jesus points out, that makes all the difference: knowing Jesus Christ Himself personally is the absolute foundation of approval with Him. He rejects those "doing the will of God" because they never knew HIM, or, worst of all, turned from HIM to pursue intimate knowledge with another OTHER than Him.

24        "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
25        The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.
26        But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
27        The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."
(NIV)

Jesus ends the "Sermon on the Mount" with a proverbially drawn line in the sand that to this weary day still speaks to us. He tells the crowds on that hill, and the multitudes of humanity ever since, that those who both hear what He says and lives by it are like the wise man who builds his home upon a firm foundation that will withstand any natural tumult of the elements. He then contrasts this with the foolish man who builds upon shifting sands that crumble at the first blast of stormy weather, that is, the man who hears what Jesus says but who go on to create their own foundation of truth. The wise man's house stands the test of adversity, while the foolish man's home is ruined in the first assaults of nature. Clearly, Jesus is admonishing all of us to hear and do what He commands.

So how does this all relate to Matthew 7:21? How does the interpretation of Gwen Shamblin on "doing the will of God" stand in relationship to what we've learned from the context of Matthew 5-7 and 7:13-27 as we've studied it? Here's where the rubber meets the road, so to speak ..

1) Matthew 5-7 is the firm establishment of one central truth that Gwen Shamblin completely rejects and/or ignores(at her peril): Jesus has completed the Law of God. He has fulfilled in His holy live all of the righteousness found in the Law and in so doing, he has COMPLETED all of the stipulations of His Father's Will, all that the Law could ever demand of those who would keep it. No one else can come close. The only "doing" that could save anyone has been done by Christ Jesus ALONE. His contrasts of what the Pharisees and scribes demanded and what He taught were meant to be as clear as night and day and to emphasize that point. What He did in his miracles and power over demons and the elements also gloriously underscored this. JESUS alone is Lord over salvation, not any amount of "doing" we can ever hope to perform. He came, He DID, He conquered. To live for God is to hold to this truth by a faith based upon what Jesus has done, and a practical Christian life of obedience of what Jesus has taught.

2) Matthew 7:13-27 contains the closing admonitions of our Lord Jesus concerning how those seeking to live by His teaching would become targets for the seductions of the fallen world, our weakness in the flesh, and the deceptions of demonic design. As we've said, those seeking to follow Jesus will be threatened by perils not only around them, but within them. Compromise with the culture at large, confrontations with the lies of false teachers within the four walls of the community of faith as well as the delusional belief that one can actually be made holy in God's sight by what they do apart from saving trust and relationship with Jesus are the dangers facing us.

3) And Matthew 7:21 asserts that the whole point of Christian life is to do the will of the Father as revealed to us by the Son. It is the will of God that is discernable in what Jesus telling us of it that will save alone. Clearly, the "doing" doesn't save - we've seen that Jesus ALONE has done that. As we've studied last week from James 2:24, our faith in God is incomplete if we do live out what we say we believe on. It is not the "doing" of our Christian lives that makes us holy, but our faith in Christ alone. The "doing" obedience we offer up is our personal commitment to conforming to what His Spirit has done in us by our faith in Him FIRST, as our personal expression of our love and praise of Him ALONE.

We resist temptation because we love Him, not just to keep ourselves pure out of a religion by rote. We share our faith with others because we love Him, not just to notch our belts with another spiritual scalp. We go to His Word because we love Him, not just to "get fed." We call on Him in prayer because we love Him, not just so we can say we had "quiet time" and met an evangelical formula for piety. Christian obedience is in response to our sanctifying of God's place in our hearts as Lord over our lives - not as a religious duty imposed upon by anyone else.

The greatest question that now suggests itself is this:

How does Gwen Shamblin's demand that we need to do the "will of God" somehow be equated to doing what she herself dictates should be done?

At what point did the publishing abroad by the Internet or study guides of the will of a blonde dietician suddenly become confused with the will of God? This is where the consideration must also go. We are speaking of the WILL OF GOD! It's found in the teachings of Jesus Christ alone, so how dare Gwen Shamblin or anyone else under WDW/RF "authority" presume to raise up to the equivalency of divine direction their own traditions of how to eat, how to discipline children, etc. as "the will of God?" The will of God is found in Scripture!

For all of the endless repetition and attention Shamblin may lavish upon our need to "do the will of God" for salvation, she doesn't quite explain how what she says becomes "the will of God" that becomes the plumbline of judgment that God will use. She may cite pages and pages of Scripture, furiously quote verse upon verse and sound quite orthodox and persuasive. And yet, in the RF/WDW culture we've come to know so well, the "will of God" that Gwen says should be done pretty much centers around to her own biases, viewpoints, practical exhortations and worldview, even down to how to eat potato chips.

This where oh so MANY people in WDW sadly got sidetracked. The will of Gwen is the will of God. There is no more greater and more disgusting an idolatry as this kind of reckoning as sanctioned by Shamblin and her associates. But it is there as clear as a bell.

Contrary to what Gwen's rejection of confessed faith in Christ as essential to salvation, our Lord Jesus and the apostle Paul teach an entirely different standard:

John 6:26-29
26        Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.
27        Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval."
28        Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"
29        Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
(NIV)

This was when Jesus was confronting the increasingly fickle and demanding crowds thronging him with their own hypocrisy: many followed him not because they were learning spiritual truth from His confirmation of His Lordship by signs and wonders, but because they got free lunches from His miraculous provision of food for thousands out of a few loaves and fishes. He commands them to leave off worrying about foodstuff that would rot away but for eternal food that would sustain them for all eternity. Jesus alone could give this food for He alone had God's divine favor to do so (again, another reference to His unique place in salvation - not food!) and His focus is entirely upon the spiritual and not the natural.

But that's not even the main point here. Look again at what the crowds asked of him, a question that speaks to us today just as powerfully. "What must we DO to DO the works God requires?" In other words, these people, many of whom were truly seeking truth, wanted to know just what it was that God commanded that should be DONE to satisfy him. And tarry here, my friends, at what Jesus is saying:

"The work of God is this: TO BELIEVE in the ONE he has sent."

Do we hear anything about living from "growl to growl" or any of the other things that Gwen Shamblin - or any other false teacher - would demand you should DO to bring salvation? Are there any great regimens of religiosity we are meant to perform? Far from it! Jesus is again emphasizing that saving FAITH - believing on Him - was the greatest "work", the only "doing" God commands. When was the last time you heard Gwen Shamblin quote and expand upon this verse? I doubt she's ever touched it in public to any great extent for it is just too subversive, too undermining to her belief system.

It is Jesus the Son of God's words that are defining God the Father's will: "believe in the One he has sent." If ever the people of Israel - and all of humanity since then - need to hear a message, it is this. Jesus likens believing upon him as the one "work" anyone ever needs to do. If Jesus meant for us to pursue a works-based program for salvation dependent upon our DOING, he surely missed the opportunity to draw that distinction! Instead, he does just the opposite and reaffirms the essential nature of personal faith in Him for salvation, not personal effort.

Rom 10:8-13

8        But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming:
9        That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10        For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
11        As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."
12        For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile-- the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him,
13        for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
(NIV)

What Jesus has said about the relationship between faith and works is a truth that no one in Scripture has explained more thoroughly than the apostle Paul. Here in Romans 10:8-13, Paul concisely explains it further. The railings of Gwen Shamblin against the concept of a heartfelt confession of faith in Christ for salvation are now shown to be as antichristian as any other verbalized rejection of Christian truth claims she makes. In this passage, he only reaffirms what Jesus was speaking of. It is from one's very heart that faith is expressed by their verbal confession of Christ as Lord over their lives, accompanied by any appropriate confession of sin and repentance from it. This was a mark of the new way that Jesus was proclaiming: faith in Him for personal salvation would be all that would be needed.

But Paul took pains to ensure that the Romans understood that this emphasis by Christ on the exercise of personal faith in Him was not a new thing. We've seen how Abraham was justified by his faith in our last study, and Paul rightly observes how faith in Jesus was a fulfillment of the Old Testament's provision of a foreshadowing grace. He quotes portions of the prophecies of Isaiah 28:16 and Joel 2:32 to prove how Yahweh's love for both Jew and Gentile was such that He would answer their calls upon Him and would honor their trust in His promises. Even though he had called Israel to be His chosen people, his mercy is so great that His willingness to bless Jew and Gentile alike is a facet of his self-revealed nature no one can deny. This wonderful grace was beautifully sang by the psalmist of Psalms 145:17-19:

17        The LORD is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made.
18        The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
19        He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.
(NIV)

Glory to God! How precious is His mercy and kindness. Thank God His will has nothing to do with the fickle dictates of self-proclaimed "seers" of today such as Gwen Shamblin. Although she may rail upon those who have found their peace with God by faith in His Son and who don't live the way she thinks they should, she persists in her blasphemous error from very dangerous ground. She stubbornly and rebelliously repeats the error of national Israel that Paul earlier spoke of in the same chapter in verses 2-4: she and Remnant Fellowship, thinking themselves to be the true Remnant of Zion, have committed the SAME gross sin:

Rom 10:2-4

2        For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.
3        Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.
4        Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
(NIV)

Once again, the parallel is clear. There are many in the "Remnant Nation" that are like the Israel of old: many refuse to submit to the way of salvation by exercising faith in Jesus alone and persist in creating their own "growl-based" faith that is alien to the Biblical good news. And again, it is JESUS who - praise His name - is exalted as the one who is the "END" (or completion) of the Law so that righteousness may be bestowed upon "everyone who believes."

Sadly, so very sadly, Remnant's theology has no room for this. Indeed, there is no end to the amount of self-denial, attention to detail and personal effort that the Remnant Fellowship disciple has to engage in to ensure they are in the right frame of mind to "be saved." They have set up their own "Total Obedience" program up as their ticket to salvation, a ticket that in the end will only secure a seat on a roller coaster into driven legalism and works-righteousness that is a rejection of the free gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus alone.

We've seen what Jesus means about "doing" the Father's will. We pray that someday Gwen and her disciples, the eyes of their understanding unshackled by the unscriptural dogma they follow, will soon see that they too are in need of a Savior who will receive them and touch them anew if they will only but repent again of their own misguided attempts to create their own righteousness at the expense of the truth of the Gospel.

IMPLICATIONS:

Gwen is RIGHT when she says doing the will of God involves a practical lifestyle focused around upholding one's beliefs which too many people ignore.
Gwen is WRONG when she implies that her body of teaching is what equates the will of God that if disobeyed, is a sign of evil doing.

Gwen is RIGHT when she points out there is a vital "doing" aspect to Christian faith that cannot be ignored which is part of one's walk with God.
Gwen is WRONG when she ignores the whole counsel of Scripture that shows that all that can be done to provide salvation was finished in Jesus' ministry ALONE.

Gwen is RIGHT when she says there are those in the church today whose personal example are a denial of personal commitment to holiness and who do wickedly.
Gwen is WRONG when she makes the blanket assumption that everyone in the church lives the same way simply because they don't happen to be members of RF.

And Gwen is RIGHT when pointing out that mere confession of faith in Christ doesn't mean one truly lives for God, and that this can create false faith.
But Gwen is WRONG when she rejects the Biblical mandate for believing on Christ by faith for salvation to set up a works-based code of conduct for salvation.

*****************************************

Unless I hear otherwise, I don't know if there is still a need to study any more of the so-called "Doing" Scriptures. I hope I've shown that Gwen's works-based mentality she uses to distort God's Word into a proof text source to support her teaching has no support. In the list of Scriptures that I was given by you to peruse in study, Matt. 7:13,14 as well as Luke 6:46-49 and Luke 13:24 were among those in this list (and no doubt there are more). However, in the course of our study we've tackled the issues and concepts that the Luke verses also cover and we've looked over Matthew 7:13-14 also, so I won't be going over these unless someone feels we need to. IF THERE ARE OTHER "DO" SCRIPTURES YOU WOULD LIKE TO GO OVER, PLEASE SAY SO!

If not, next week, we'll go to the book of Romans and tackle two of the Scriptures that Gwen brings to bear on those who she thinks don't measure up to her established form of righteousness, namely Romans 2:5-8 and 6:1-2.

Agape

rafael

Righteous Lord and Father, we praise and thank you for the opportunity to once more hear your Holy Word that alone is truth, and is truly a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. Dear Lord, send your Spirit to once again be our teacher, our instructor and the One who will enlighten us with this, your truth. It is not mine. It is yours .. enable me to share with my brothers and sisters here thy Word in truth, fidelity to you and in praise and honor and glory to you alone.

**************

This week, we will look into another verse of the Scriptures in the book of Romans that Gwen brings to bear on those who she thinks don't measure up to her works of righteousness. We now turn our attention to Romans 2:5-8, verses that Shamblin chooses to twist into her own warped interpretive framework. These Scriptures deal with the issue of the wilful rebellion of spiritual rebels. Since Gwen misinterprets them completely, we will examine them accordingly.

WHAT GWEN TEACHES ABOUT ROMANS 2:5-8

>>"Lie #1 of Satan is that he will say that obedience and repentance are "works," and a "work" takes away from the grace of God. So, you spend your life attending on Sundays to praise God for His work and just admit to what a great sinner (rebellious child) you are, because you think God likes that. Little does this person know that they are the mocker, and in doing this, they are storing up the wrath of God (Romans 2:5). Many will say that obedience is a "work," taking away from the cross of Christ. Woe to anyone who would lead someone to veer from the path of total surrender!"<< (RF Website)

>>"Yes, there are some who say you need to stop sinning - but they are obviously not making it clear, for their pews are filled with hearts who love their idols - and out of the other side of their mouths they assure the members that they are "once saved always saved," the opposite of what the Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 5:5-7 and Gal. 6:7-9 and Rom. 2:5 and Heb. 10:26."<< (RF website)

It is difficult to find specific places in the collection of Gwen's writings and teachings in which I have found any kind of systematic Biblical exposition of her doctrine (that's likely because they don't really exist in the true sense of the term due to her pick-and-choose approach to Scripture). These quotations are as close to this from her as we can probably get.

She never actually expounds upon what the verses actually mean. In keeping with her strident tone, Gwen's "handling" of Romans 2:5-8 is clouded almost entirely by her feral attack on the Christian Church and her self-proclaimed "rescue mission" to it. The text of the Scripture is barely even touched upon in her railings here and as used as a background to the several tangents she takes in these three quotations. This is part of that "affective argumentation" I spoke of in my Bible Study supplement post.

Avoiding the side-tracking rabbit trails here, what Gwen is implying is that Romans 2:5-8 is a warning about how God will remember as "mockery" the rejection of her view as to what "obedience" and "repentance" should be (this is directly tied to her view of laying down "idols" and "dying to self", a whole subject we will discuss later). Obedience is "total surrender" to "doing" the will of God, and this truth is what the church has rejected and in so doing, has become a Satanic firestorm of sin and evil where preachers have put millions to sleep with their own false teaching and who live lives of slumber bent on personal fufillment of personal lusts.

Such a backslidden church will face the full fury of God's judgment and wrath for reckoning that such "obedience" as she defines it is a "work" that cheapens the cross of Jesus. The doctrinal position of "once saved always saved", rampant in many churches, is the equivalent of carnal religiosity that "coddles sin" and emboldens millions in the churches to enshrine personal idolatry among them.

WHAT GWEN TEACHES ABOUT ROMANS 6:1-2

"The church leaders are destroying God's temple by letting the body of Christ believe the biggest lie you have ever heard: you are just human, therefore you can never stop sinning or rebelling. Never mind what Jesus said in Mark 9:42-48. Never mind that the Apostle Paul said, "Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means!" (Rom. 6:1b,2a).."

"The converts understood that they could not continue being under another god-whether something created or themselves. They had to stop being the king of their life and they were to surrender their body, soul and mind (the temple, 1 Corinthians 3:17) over to the King. In other words, they understood that they could not continue in sin that grace may abound. (Romans 6:1,2) (1 John 3:6) Grace was not abused out of love for Christ and God. Self was not a consideration, only the will of the Father."

Shamblin's rejection of the Christian Church is supposedly strengthened by her usage of Romans 6:1-2. Here, what she seems to be saying is that the church is apostate and is leading millions of people into eternal destruction by teaching that we are just weak human beings who can never be sinless or dead to the world. The typical member of the Body of Christ has been left to believe that we are all just subject to our passions and weaknesses and have to go with the flow of the carnality of the world. The Church hasn't been taught about the total surrender to the will of God because of the evil leaders within it: therefore, it lives in a proud state of mind that hides behind the skirts of God's all-covering grace to continue a sinful life in the heart, mind and flesh.

She takes the question of the apostle Paul that rhetorically asks if continuing in sin would somehow be God's way to ensure that more of his grace is poured out on the sinful in the Church. His powerful denial of this is part of his argument against the carnal mindset that would justify sin in the church. But Gwen cunningly catches the thrust of Paul's indictment to reinforce her belief that the Church lives entirely for self, abusing "grace" ("doing the will of God") and ignoring God's will completely.

She then asserts that the early church didn't fall for this and that the new converts within it were taught correctly by the apostles to lay aside their idolatrous ways. This instruction, of course, resulted in what we are all so familiar with, what Gwen claims to be the divine remedy: to "seriously consider the state of your heart and enter the ark of the righteous remnant - the called out - and float above the world with the righteous" (Rise Above, p. 300). Her suggestions on "what you can do today" on page 301 of that book are typical:

"Go where God is leading you in Scripture."

"Endeavor to be holy .."

"Identify false teachers. God's true messengers call His chosen people to embrace the hard teachings of Jesus and to find joy, peace and love in dying to self. False teachers offer an easier message saying, 'It's okay to continue in sin.' ..

"Rid your life of idols .."

"Prepare for judgment"


ROMANS 2 AND ROMANS 6 RIGHTLY DIVIDED

As I have said, these citations drawn from Gwen's website teachings that are publicly accessible through the RF website, are shrewd tangles of both truth and error. The set of passages from Romans are little more than a springboard for her exercise in Bible high-diving: her emotionally charged word pictures ("rebellious child .. never mind .. Lie # 1 .. the king of their life ..") are what we've been watching pirouette, spin and twist skillfully after bouncing off of the Scriptures themselves to flawlessly execute her objective.

As with all heretics, truth here is very cunningly and shrewdly twisted around the error in her teaching here. But make no mistake: her twistings, no matter how true they seem, are indeed more than blackened by her fundamental error concerning "doing" the will of God versus faith in His Son for salvation. Let's see what the Word of God itself says here in these verses and if they support what she claims.

Romans 2:5-8

5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.
6 God "will give to each person according to what he has done."
7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.
8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.

From the very start of the verse, we are being pointed back through the Scriptures for insights from Paul's teaching being used to build upon and expand what he is about to say in Romans 2:5-8. This shows us that the context of the verses is obviously drawn from the verses before them. Once again we see the absolute necessity in any sound exploration of the Bible to close attention to the context of any verse. And Paul's adverb "but" is pointing us back to thoughts previously spoken. You can't ignore the precision of the language here although Gwen does so with impunity. We will not repeat her grave mistake, so we need to turn back to what Paul has said in verses 1-4 for the key to understanding verses 5-8.

And once we do so, we also see even more context to this alluded to in verse 1 by the word "therefore." It's another example of Paul's building of his argument from Romans 1:18-32 which contains his classic teaching on God's just and holy wrath upon mankind for its willful rejection of truth and its descent into depravity. All of these Scriptures provide even greater clarity to what Paul is teaching in Romans 2:5-8, and is another clear example of how God's Word clarifies and interprets itself.

I don't want to make this study longer than it should be, but we must explore - as always - this larger context starting with the climax of Paul's teaching in Romans 1, found in verse 32:

32        Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Paul's summary is of the dreadful principle behind God's judgment upon the ungodly: "they" (the sinful) will be judged because they knew God's plainly revealed truth on what was right and what was wrong and deliberately rejected it to follow their own unrighteous pursuit of sinful living. God's justice set forth a decree of punishment upon the ungodly who not only persisted in such a lifestyle but who applaud and defend those like them who also have defied His commands.

In Romans 1:18 and 21, we learn that God's wrath is "revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. .. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened." This is what kindles the wrath of God Paul speaks of in verse 32. Verses 22-31 then go on to unflinchingly describe with the most shockingly vivid word pictures in all of Scripture what the state of fallen man left to himself will be after rejecting God or even knowledge of Him. This is man at his absolute worst, yet wholly natural state of depravity. We then understand just who "they" are in verse 32 Paul is speaking of.

A direct and tough question is now raised that Gwen Shamblin completely ignores through her emotional eisegesis (a 25 cent word that defines the act of reading INTO a Bible text a meaning that isn't there):

Does a Christian's descent into the commission of sin in their lives instantly qualify them as a vile God-hater?

All Christians may struggle with sin at some point in their lives, and this is an undeniable fact of life. One cannot underestimate the spiritually corrosive and destructive effect of unconfessed sin in the life of the Christian. It will separate the soul from God and bring eternal death. BUT because we are tempted and even fail God by yielding to the unique enticements of sin that plague us (James 1:14-15) do we then become completely amoral, godless reprobates who would be in good company among the likes of those described in Romans 22-31? While I and no other Christian in no way would ever condone the willful sin of ANY Christian, is the plain fact that believers do on occasion yield to sinful influence in their life proof that they are automatically to be numbered among those who "change the truth of God for a lie" and "become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity" (vss. 25, 29)?

This is precisely what Gwen Shamblin would have you to believe. Her railings we've reviewed It fits the kind of perfectionistic, black and white worldview she lives by. Such a warped view then implies that Gwen has arrived at the point where she now has the ability to determine who is sinful and who is righteous on the basis of what she claims is the proper way to live and think. Paul the apostle would completely differ in Romans 2:1-4

1        You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.

No one can escape the implications of this exceedingly plain truth. All who call down judgment on another

2        Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth.
3        So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment?
4        Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?




Romans 6:1-2

1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?
2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

IMPLICATIONS



In keeping with her past Scripture citations we've previously studied, Gwen Shamblin uses her citation of the powerfully compelling warning of Romans 2:58 as delivered by the apostle Paul as yet another attack on the Christian Church. There isn't much sign of sound Biblical interpretation but an unbiblical interpolation, or insertion of her own meanings and material into the text of Scripture to give it her own meaning quite apart from what it actually says. She takes away just enough of the truth touched upon Romans 2 and Romans 6 ,,

Gwen Shamblin has gone on record as stating that she has had no formal training in ministerial or Biblical study and this becomes more and more abundantly clear as we study her writings. Her method of Biblical "interpretation" is an exercise of dogmatism that is pretensively called "Bible study." It is anything but, and this week's study makes that even more clear.

Like other cult leaders, she will hurriedly make a claim and then point to Bible verses that will supposedly support it, rushing off to her next point before any adequate reflection can be made on it (we've already discussed this earlier this week). She then expects to not only be trusted and believed but to be acknowledged as a divine instrument of truth and authority before whom the nations must bow. And when she makes this demand from the context of an unyielding and contentious tension she's created between her alien vision and the Christian Church, the lines are drawn and you are forced to make a choice. This is the M.O. of the deceptive cult of the last days that misuses the Bible, and Gwen's "message" is no different than any of the other false gospels in the world today.


I believe this is what the apostle Peter had in mind when he warned about false teachers who take advantage of Scriptural truths that are "hard to understand" and who through their ignorance and instability "distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction" (2 Peter 3:16). Such people have a cunning way to mingle enough truth into their fantasy that gives it the appearance of divine authenticity. They are also personally engaging, disarmingly dynamic and fluent, audience-savvy orators. Gwen Shamblin is really no different at all from them.

Next week or so, our next study of Gwen’s “do” list will go down the list (finally found in the WDA study guide, page 6 and tackle both Genesis 4:7 and Genesis 6:22.

agape

rafael

Father in heaven, in the wonderful name of your Son, our Lord Jesus, we come before you. We come to break the bread of life, the meat of Your Word together, to hear your Word and to come to a deeper and richer walk with You in your truth and love. By the power of your Holy Spirit tonight, the Comforter and Teacher you’ve sent to dwell within us, let us hear what it is you would say to us – that we might not only learn to hear your Shepherd’s voice calling to us, that we may no longer heed the lies of the hirelings who twist what you’ve already told us and commanded us to remember. To Your Glory and praise we offer this, in Jesus Name, amen.

********************

We continue our study of Gwen Shamblin’s “Do” scriptures and will stop to now consider what is surely one of her most potent and compelling misinterpretations of God’s Word that has done more to enslave so many under her yoke of Remnant tradition. This will be Jesus’ words found in Mark 3:33-35 which she cites continually throughout her teaching and in her interactions with Remnant members.

Mark 3:33-35
33        "Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked.
34        Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers!
35        Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother."
(NIV)

Where Shamblin’s teaching on this passage proceeds is profoundly disturbing. Read these teachings carefully and prayerfully as they are by far some of the darkest and most warped thoughts of Shamblin I’ve ever read that we will quote here. Her ferocity is simply amazing here as she pursues her avowed mission to convince Remnant missions that family relationships are idolatrous strongholds if they don’t reflect her Remnant philosophy and ideals. This is not surprising of course, since all cults damn as Satanic and sinful any non-conformity to their worldview, but Gwen Shamblin’s rhetoric here is perhaps among some of the most extreme expressions I’ve ever heard voiced by a true cult leader.

Some of this may be too extreme for some of you. Be advised. But this darkness has to be directly addressed.

WHAT GWEN TEACHES ABOUT MARK 3:33-35

“Repent and choose THE GOD and only Him and so join this city of survivors that have provided a city for God to rule. Jesus taught that neither friends nor family come before Him. Your family, Jesus said, are those who DO the will of the Father - not preach it, underline it, memorize it, study, or sing it. It is only he who does it that will be saved (Matthew 7:21; Mark 3:31).” (Remnant Resource, p. 6)

We must read more of what Shamblin teaches on the quality of these relationships to fully understand what she means when she speaks of Jesus teaching that “neither friends nor family come before Him,” and that “your family .. are those who DO the will of the Father.” We cannot fully grasp just what she is truly implying in these phrases without studying what she says about family relationships in other sources of her thoughts on them.

“There is a family of believers out there who God is pulling back together and when they finally meet each other, they feel like they have come home to family - long-lost family. They all know each other because they have all been raised by the same Father, so they all are kind and humble, and above all, they put the Father and His Son’s wishes above their own wants. They wouldn’t dare embarrass their Father who raised them by disobeying Him. They are people who all instinctively know what they have learned from their brother and their Lord, Jesus Christ…`Not my will, but Thine be done.’” (RF website)

“We are to expect opposition and persecution from the world. .. When you get even close to coming to the true body of believers who have only one passion and love and when you get close to understanding that your food is to do the will of THE FATHER, then you will start to experience the persecution that is recorded in the book of Acts. .. be afraid only to be out of the will of the living God. Are you afraid? .. Today, thank the Lord that your children and their children will be very prepared for this prophesied lifestyle we totally overlooked while in the Great Prostitute.” (Remnant Resource, p. 9)

To Shamblin, obviously, there is only one true church, one true fellowship made up of warm, loving people who pour themselves into one another and who recognize one another instinctually. Naturally, this is the Remnant Fellowship fold who are a “city of survivors” building the New Jerusalem on earth. Shamblin then draws a parallel to Biblical precedent by warning that all who embrace her interpretation of “the will of God” will suffer seasons of persecution as they take a stand for God by becoming more socially situated in Remnant just like the early church suffered in the book of Acts. Remnant Fellowship is the only “true body of believers” to be regarded as family and the mandate therefore is to become more distanced (and even cut off) from non-RF family who don’t follow the “prophesied lifestyle”. Fear of displeasing God by drawing back from Remnant relationships should be foremost in mind. She goes on to explain why this division of families is necessary, emphasizing how this is to be expected and even welcomed by new Remnant members as part of true spiritual growth:

“Why does God allow this continual attack at the beginning of your decision to make Him Lord of every area of your life? It is simply to test your heart for more idols. Your heart is being examined to see if you love your spouse more than your Creator, your children more than your Creator, or your friends more than your Creator.” (Remnant Resource, p. 9-10)

Remnant’s true believers must not only expect but embrace this tension as a normative part of Christian life. It is God’s ordained time of testing to see how true the Remnant member is to the “Remnant Nation”, to “Jerusalem” by dissolving social ties from non-RF family so as to be shown truly righteous. The natural bonds of marital, parental and familial love and intimacy are idolatries that are a direct affront to the “truth” of the Remnant message of “total obedience” (that is, complete comformity to Remnant lifestyles and rejection of those who don’t abide by them).

Finally, listen to Gwen’s direction to keep them at arms length or even to break them fully for the sake of the “true body.” There is absolutely no mistaking Shamblin’s view of human relationships within and without Remnant in these following words:

“Jesus told those who wanted to follow Him on the path of showing full devotion to the Father to not even go back and bury their dead (Luke 9:60). He said that the dead will bury the dead .. and they are truly dead. The only alive people are those who are totally focused on and connected to the Father. .. Satan and his detractors are everywhere and can act through any human being. .. Those who have poured over the words and directives of the Master, Jesus Christ, are highly aware of the fact that opposition can arise within your own household and there may be an absence of peace. No peace with people who support multiple gods .. did any spiritual leader get you ready for this?” (Remnant Resource, p. 10)

“Now, we are commanded to honor our father and our mother. What does it mean to “honor” a parent? Many believe it would be to keep peace by worshipping the god of their choice. If your mother loves food, it will keep peace if you love that food right alongside her, but Jesus did not come for you to have that kind of peace. He came to take off that heavy yoke and give you lighter burden of doing only what the true God wants you to do everyday – blocking all other voices. He came to separate you off to the New Jerusalem, a place where you only worship THE God and prove that to yourself by your actions.” (Remnant Resource, p. 11).

“No one has loved you more than us – the Remnant of Believers who will actually quote the Bible instead of twisting it. Jesus said you must “do” the will of the Father to enter the kingdom. (Remnant Resource p. 7)”

“God is bringing all of His children back home - a place where they know they are home because they are back under His authority and His authority and leadership alone. The heritage of all true Christians is that they separate when they know something is being taught that is against the Bible. .. When He says to do something - such as, `be holy and be separate’ - we do it. Not because we are proud or aloof -but because we love the Father and do exactly what He commands (John 14:31). We do not think that we are smarter than Him and we prove that by our humble response to His Word. You are at a valley of decision. Life is short. Do what is right.” (RF website)

To Gwen Shamblin, the will of God is whatever she interprets it to be. Any deviation from her own narrow interpretation of it that contradicts the dictates of the hierarchical “authority line” she sets forth as the only standard for Christian leadership is to therefore be out of the will of God. This is at the heart of what Shamblin says that Jesus means by doing the will of the Father in Mark 3:33-35. By keeping all of what she says the “family” actually is in mind, we now see Mark 3:33-35 as being a cautionary admonition of Jesus to us. The only people who are truly His family are those who who do the Will of the Father, which is whatever Gwen and her Remnant cadre define it to be.

MARK 3:33-35 RIGHTLY DIVIDED

What does Jesus mean in this verse? Does He actually command division beween family members as Shamblin teaches? Let’s review again the words of Jesus Himself as recorded in Mark 3:33-35. Verses 31-32 provide further context to what prompted Jesus to make the declaration He did:

31 Then his brothers and his mother came, and standing outside they sent to him, calling him.
32 And a multitude was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you.” (NKJV)

Mark 3:33-35
33        "Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked.
34        Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers!
35        Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother."
(NIV)

In these five verses, we are given a glimpse into what life was like as Jesus our Lord taught and ministered. He was evidently still at the private home mentioned in 3:19 along with the Twelve disciples who were accompanying him across Israel in his ministry. He had just finished confronting those who attributed His glorious ministry of demonic deliverance as from the devil, occasioning his solemn warning against blasphemy of the Holy Spirit at pain of eternal damnation. This is a significant point that we must bear in mind here which we will discuss shortly.

He was then approached by the members of his human family, namely the sons of Mary and Joseph who were by birth his blood brothers and Mary his mother. They approached him, seeking an audience, and he was told this by some members of the crowds who were following him as He was finishing his teaching of the Twelve. It isn’t known who told him, but Jesus addressed their request in a singularly memorable manner. Told that his family was seeking Him, Jesus answered with a pointed question: “Who are my mother and brothers?” Gazing around the disciples who were gathered there with him, He went on to declare that they were his mother and brothers and that whosoever was doing the will of God also was a member of this circle of people who He characterized as his very family.

Why did Jesus make such a distinction? The answer is twofold. First of all, He did so to emphasize how a commitment to doing God’s will first and foremost in their lives brings those so committed into a vastly deeper personal connection with Him that was even more intimate than the relationships between natural family members. He wanted the crowd, his family and the disciples to understand this fundamental truth. Those who actively pursue and fulfill the will of God in their lives are bound together as spiritual family with an infinitely more higher bonding than any purely natural kinship.

And secondly, while Christ contrasted the quality of both natural and spiritual relationships for the sake of understanding the necessity of doing God’s will first in our lives, He also wanted us to realize that
whoever and wherever this contrasting of relationships might be seen they would fully enjoy the privilege of being numbered among His great family. This is no doubt a foreshadowing of the revelation of the Body of Christ over which Jesus Himself is the Head and we the members of that same great Body (1 Cor. 12:12-14, Ephesians 5:23 – note the intimacy of this unity as likened unto marital bonds). Such a glorious reality is the birthright of all true believers in Christ who have embraced him as Lord and Savior and have been made new creations in Him (Romans 7:12-17 explains this with some of the most beautiful promises of God to those who have been transformed by His Spirit through faith in His promises).

Some Bible scholars suggest that what occasioned Jesus to say what He said was His recognition that His family, perhaps fearful of the dangerous enemies He was rebuking earlier in the chapter, were concerned enough to want to call him aside to express their feelings. Perhaps they didn’t yet fully understand His entire mission. It is quite likely that with the tension of the moment at hand and considering that Jesus had just faced down the hostile scribes who were members of the most influential leaders of Jewish society that His own family felt they needed to try and caution him through a direct appeal. Remember that at one point just before Jesus’ encounter with the scribes, His own friends had actively sought him out to cease His ministry to Israel (3:21) thinking he was unbalanced. The actions of both His friends and family strongly suggest that they were anxious and even feared for His life, seeking to persuade Him to leave off the direction he was taking.

But whatever the reason for Jesus’ declaration here, in no place do we see Him hinting at or even suggesting any kind of rejection of the personal family ties He had with His mother or His family ties whatsoever. This is just simply not what Jesus had in mind here. In fact, Jewish social customs held the parental bonds in such high esteem that to speak a rebuke against one’s mother so publicly was considered unthinkable and outrageous, a deplorable violation of social norms cherished throughout all levels of Hebrew life. Hence, His remark on those being His “mother” can not be viewed as any sort of cutting rejection of His own human sonship to Mary. Even if her faith and understanding could be viewed as wavering or in question here, the last thing Jesus could be suggested as intending would be to cut her off from relationship with Him. We see then that Shamblin’s feral teaching that one should indeed separate from friends and family who don’t measure up to her self-imposed interpretation of what “God’s Will” is not only unbiblical but a wicked imposition of her own vindictive and sectarian narrow mindedness.

This was the same Jesus who said that he came to fulfill the Law, which taught as one of the Ten Commandments that a godly man or woman was to honor their father and mother. This is the same Christ who beheld his mother’s agonized form at the foot of his cross even as he hung mutilated and beaten by the nails in his hands and feet and compelled John the disciple to take her into his home to ensure she was cared for (John 19:26-27). This is the same Man from Galilee whose own family possibly shunned him for a time, since they are not mentioned again during his trial and crucifixion (perhaps hiding as the disciples did) but who would still bestow the Spirit upon them when their faith was restored and when they were in the upper room at Pentecost (Acts 1:14). Even though his family didn’t appear to be his greatest supporters and may even have been offended with his ministry, they would eventually come to terms with accepting their own brother as the One True God and their Savior and Messiah.

But through all of this, we don’t see Jesus turning upon and rending his family for not standing by him. While the occasion clearly showed how human the Son of man’s family really was, it only highlighted the privilege one could have by being even closer to Him then His bonds to His own flesh and blood by choosing to do His will. What a blessing! What a Savior!

IMPLICATIONS:

I have tried to be objective and to share with you what points of agreement we may have with Gwen Shamblin’s interpretations in all of the studies we’ve done thus far. In this study, in light of the utterly outrageous statements she claims are deliveries of divinely ordained direction, I can’t find any. There are none. Her feigned passion for God’s will is little more than a thinly religious veneer to cover her sociopathic mission to destroy families for the sake of creating a
”nation” of people who are more coerced robots than Christian remnant. There is no common ground between Gwen Shamblin’s sick and twisted violation of the essence of these Scriptures. I can find no point of agreement with her at all.

Therefore, all of Shamblin’s wicked and intentional disruption of family ties that she advocates as God-ordained should therefore be seen as nothing less than the dictates of a controlling and manipulative spirit. Jesus never commanded shunning of one’s family because of their weaknesses. It is self-evidently evil for her – or any other cult leader - to suggest that the relationships of a group of people, no matter how apparently “one in spirit” they may be, are God-ordained replacements for the place that one’s own family may be. While one’s family may not be perfect and may even be clouded by sin and failure, nowhere in the words of Jesus do we see anything remotely resembling the deviant behavior Shamblin advocates.

And she obscures any clear discerning of this by her rapid fire delivery of snappy, cutting rhetoric (based on half truths that are painful rehearsals of the failings of the Christian Church) that appears to commend her as a straight-talking Bible teacher with a passion for Christian purity. But while she cites Scriptural mandates for upright living continually in an attempt to sound like an orthodox believer passionate for God’s righteousness, her practical and doctrinal focus is coercive and manipulatively cultic and abusive.

Other cults use this same Scripture in the same way to divide families, but in my 22 years of ministry in this field, I’ve seen few more utterly blatant attempts to seem “Christian” in this regard. Her interpretation brazenly passes off external social pressures by “Remnant saints” as the promptings of the Holy Spirit. And her interpretation of Mark 3:33-35 is the plainest evidence of this. Matthew 7:21 and 10:34-39 is also frequently cited by Shamblin in connection with these first two Scriptures. We will cover these later in a future study.

Join us next week as we proceed through the "do Scripture" list studies with our examination of Gwen's twisting of Luke 6:3-6 next week. May these studies enlighten, untwist and establish you in the true faith of Jesus Christ!


agape

rafael