Paul McKenzie

Memory Verse, Wednesday, March 18, Galatians 1:9

"As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."

It's one thing if one is deceived by "angels". It's another if they are just making things up for their own gain and glory. Or tailoring the Scripture to fit their own brand and justify their own sinfulness.

When we see the righteous anger of Jesus, we see it is almost entirely directed toward the hypocritical religious leaders of the time. "But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer them that are entering to go in." (Matthew 23:13)

He spoke this after what we call "Palm Sunday", where He, according to the purpose of God and the fulfillment of Daniel 9, entered as King Messiah, the exact day as prophesied. If the religious leaders would have accepted Him at that time, things might have gone much differently and the Kingdom of Heaven might have come at that time.

But they rejected Him and was cut off as also prophesied, and He no longer preached that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, but instead a destruction and scattering of the Jewish nation, being overrun by Gentiles until "the times of the Gentiles" were fulfilled. (Luke 21:24)

And a blindness descended upon the Jews because of unbelief, and many "Judaizers" were foremost in the persecution of the early church. In this letter Paul is battling those who seemingly profess Jesus as Lord but, like the Pharisees, try to inflict extra burdens upon the freedom that is in Christ. This was prophesied by Jesus in that Upper Room Discourse:

"They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me." (John 16:2-3)

I think it was CS Lewis who said that the most dangerous type of person is one who believes that they are inflicting persecution on you for your own good, or something to that effect. For example, the scientist who puts "human race" above individual human beings excuses themselves to commit unspeakable atrocities for "the greater good". In their minds, some people are "more equal than others".

So when I hear "trust the science", I shudder, because I don't know to which "science" they are referring.

Yet, even that is nowhere nearly as dangerous as those who move people away from eternal truth. Creating a different "Jesus" to misdirect people to justify their sin is worse than those who teach no Jesus at all, for people are being deceived into thinking they are followers of Jesus but instead are following a wolf in sheep's clothing.

It probably got to its most insidious point when what seemed to be the best thing ever to happen happened, when Constantine made Christianity the religion of the Empire. Now the pagans realized that "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em", and incorporated their own brand of Christianity into the church. And as the years progressed the leadership became so infiltrated with unbelievers that the Gospel was buried and the whole populace was dependent on the "clergy" to tell them what the Bible said.

So the Reformation came, where the Bible was printed into the common languages of the nations, and even then the leaders took that "reform" to make state religions of their own. Now it was no longer just Jewish nationalists, but the Italian Roman Catholics, German Lutheran, British Anglican, etc. etc., mixing worldly politics with the Gospel of Christ.

That's why I am leery when I hear the slogan "for God and Country". According to the Word of God, we are pilgrims looking for a better country, and the training book preparing us is the unadulterated Gospel we see in our Bible. Don't get me wrong. We speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves as it says somewhere in Proverbs, and do what we can to keep our nation righteous before God, but our ministry is to save souls, not force national conversion.

So, we can benefit from teachings of those who came after, like the church fathers, the reformers, the fundamentalists, evangelicals, etc., but all are fallible and need to be weighed by the Word of God. And if a teaching is contrary to that, send it back to the pit of hell.

And that is done through study: "Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:14-15)

Today if you hear His voice, harden not your heart.

*KJV used*

Memory Helps

"AS WE SAID BEFORE,
SO SAY I now AGAIN,

If ANY MAN preach ANY OTHER gospel
unto you THAN THAT ye have RECEIVED,

let him be ACCURSED."

(words per line: 4-5-7-7-4)

(lines 1-2: "As we said/so say I", "before/again")

(line 3: "any man/any other)

(line 4: "than that")

(lines 4-5 "received/accursed")

Same pattern as verse 8: two couplets, then the command.

For "as we said before", I make my hands like puppets, point to me and make them speak.

For "so say I again", I only use one of those hand puppets by my mouth.

Then I can just go back to something similar to what I did in verse 8, without the angel.

Linking verse numbers:

Big "Boy" from restaurant fame is my memory character for verses 9 (B or P = 9, vowels fillers). I put a big bow "Tie" on him as he acts all of this out because I use the "Tie" (T=1) to represent chapter one. This way I link Galatians 1:9 to my verse.