PASTOR-ATTORNEY

Now as Paul thus made his defense before King Agrippa, Festus, a Roman procurator said with a loud voice, "Paul, you are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad!" Acts 26:24.
I believe that all Christian Pastors should be trained as lawyers or Attorneys-at-Law. Why? Because the Bible is a law book. It has cases, laws, regulations, commandments, rules, etc. You can learn about civil law and cases in law libraries called reporters or law reports. Reading the Bible is not like reading a novel. The Bible is a collection of the history of law since Adam and Eve. The Bible is a law book! Many Christians are confused when they read the Bible, especially the writings of the apostle Paul. Festus told Paul that much learning was driving Paul mad! Do you know why he said that? Because Paul's legal arguments were not easy to understand and often confusing. Utter confusion, I believe, was the primary reason why we now have over 45,000 Christian denominations or groups globally, and only one Jesus Christ. Do you think you understand what Paul wrote? Don’t waste your time reading the Hebrew translation of Paul’s writing if you don’t understand English or Indonesian. Instead, read Jesus’ teachings in simple parables, in any language. Jesus is our Savior, and we follow Him only, no one else. Read what He says. In addition, one must have a good grasp of logic. Without good logic, there is nothing! Don’t read the Bible if God has not given us the logic to understand the Bible. Why? Because Satan loves to mess up people’s minds who have poor logic. Believe me, I kid you not! I know how Satan works to confuse us. For example, Jesus said in John 7:7, "The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil.”
Jesus said that the world is evil. Why do you think the world is evil? Do Christian pastors and ministers understand where evil is coming from? Do the pastors and ministers understand where the intention to do evil is coming from? No, they do not! Instead of reinforcing God’s moral laws, the Ten Commandments, they abolished all of God’s moral laws based on their misinterpretation of Paul’s writings! Look at this, for example. Paul wrote that we are saved by faith alone, and not work. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; [it is] the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9. Now read what Paul wrote in Romans 2:6-7. He wrote that God will reward each one of us according to our deeds, eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality;" Readers, do you understand what Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8-9 and Romans 5:6-7? First he said that we are saved by faith alone, and then he wrote we are saved by our deeds, doing good. I hope all of my readers understand what I have just explained about Paul's thinking. He confuses most of the people who belong to the 45,000 Christian denominations.

I am sorry to say, but many Bible readers don’t have the required IQ needed to understand the law, and how the laws are written. Paul sometimes writes more than one or two chapters in the Bible just to illustrate one point, and everybody is already confused. A friend of mine, a young pastor in Indonesia tried to understand Paul's writings by reading the Hebrew translation of the Bible. Look, if you don’t understand what you read in Indonesian or English, reading in Hebrew is not going to help!

In Genesis 6:5-7 God said, “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man [was] great in the earth, and [that] every intent of the thoughts of his heart [was] only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the LORD said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them." Again, do the Christian preachers and ministers understand where the evil intention described in Genesis 6 is coming from? I have my own theories. The most obvious one is that they have violated or transgressed God’s laws and commandments. The less obvious one is that they have not spent enough time sitting on the toilet seat every morning. Evil or sin, as we all know, comes primarily from the transgression of God’s laws and Commandments. Why? Because that is what the Bible or common sense teaches us. Unfortunately, many, if not the majority of Christian preachers believe and teach in their churches that God’s Laws and Commandments are no longer valid or needed to guide our behavior after Jesus died on the cross. God’s laws are the source of confusion, so they say. These Christians don’t have the logic to comprehend such falsehood. The devil has shut their brain off to understand that by spreading such falsehood they are making God’s job harder. Instead of encouraging people to obey God’s Commandments to reduce the evil of the world, they are telling people to forget about God’s Laws because Jesus died on the cross. What has Jesus' death to do with the law?

The law is intended for us, and not for Jesus. Jesus said in John 7:7, "The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil.” By abolishing the law Christian Preachers and Ministers testified that evil works do not come from violations of God’s Laws and Commandments. Why? Because after Jesus died there are no more laws to violate, these Context Christians argued! They made Jesus a liar! Jesus said in Matthew 5:17-18, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one title will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” Why do you think that Jesus insists that His moral law has no expiration date? Because He knew that some of His “followers” will change God’s laws that were brought to us by God’s prophets. He wanted to make sure that we know and understand that He came to the world not to change any of the laws, but to fulfill them; to make it happen. How do you think the law can be fulfilled? The newborn Christians believe that the law can be fulfilled by ignoring, disregarding, or abandoning them! I disagree because logic and common sense tell me that an unmet need, like the fulfillment of a law, can never be met if we ignore the need, or disregard the law. We must do what the law requires us to do if we are a follower of Jesus. That’s how we fulfill the law, Bro. But if we are a follower of Satan, we do what Satan wants us to do - disregard His words! Look, how do we fulfill a promise? By disregarding them? By ignoring them? No, by complying and doing what we have promised to do! That’s what we have to do to fulfill the law.
Jesus said in Matthew 22:37, "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." And again in John 14:15, Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments." But most Christian preachers that I know teach their members to IGNORE and DISREGARD God's commandments and laws. Where did these Christian preachers get their strange ideas from? Where did Jesus clearly say that we can abandon His Commandments and Laws after He died on the cross, where? These are all unsupported teaching that they are teaching people to believe. Don't these Christian preachers with Master’s and Doctorate degrees know that Jesus said, “Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one title will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” Jesus' “death” on the cross fulfilled a prediction only, and nothing else! Has heaven and earth passed away? No! Then under whose authority are we declaring that God’s Laws and Commandments are no longer valid after Jesus died on the cross?
Have heaven and earth passed away yet? No, from where I am sitting I can still see the earth and the sky. I can see them with my eyes without my glasses on. But these confused preachers taught their members to ignore God's Laws and commandments because Jesus “died on the cross.”
I don’t know what logic they are using by connecting Jesus’ death and what Jesus said - “till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled” and then conclude that Christians are no longer required to keep His laws and commandments after Jesus died on the cross.
I believe that it is the job of every preacher and minister to teach their members the words of Jesus found in the first four books of the New Testament, and teach them to comply with His laws, and not to disregard and ignore them. When we do what He wants us to do, that’s how we fulfill the law of Matthew 5:17-18. That's how we can get rid of evil!
We read in Luke 10:25-37 this story - “And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the law? What is your reading [of it]?" So he answered and said, "`You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and `your neighbor as yourself.'" And He said to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live." But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Then Jesus answered and said: "A certain [man] went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded [him], and departed, leaving [him] half dead. "Now by chance, a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. "Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. "But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. "So he went to [him] and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. "On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave [them] to the innkeeper, and said to him, `Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.' "So which of these three do you think was a neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?" And he said, "He who showed mercy on him." Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise." (Luke 10:25-37)
Jesus had clearly stated in the story that we must work, "Go and do likewise", work, and do more work if we want to inherit eternal life! It is impossible to love God and love our neighbor without WORK! The lawyer asked, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus answered, "`You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and `your neighbor as yourself.'"
That’s all, not a word of “grace” or "faith" was mentioned! Do you want to know why? Because grace or salvation is a reward that God gives us after we work and do His will.
"Not everyone who says to Me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. "Many will say to Me in that day, `Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'" And then I will declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' (Matthew 7:21-23).
Jesus said that those who do not comply with the requirements of the Law shall not inherit Heaven. For further study please read Protect Our Most Valuable Asset.