The Schemes of the Devil
by Sam Soleyn
Scheme 1: "Ekklesia or Church"?
Many great schemes have been enacted to keep the body of Christ from coming to maturity. Last time I talked to you, about calling the church, calling the body of Christ the church. You remember that one? If you don't remember that one get the tape. These are the, these are the other two heresies that are to be added to this one, the ones that I spoke about the last time. Last time I spoke primarily about calling the body of Christ the church. And you will say, and I know there are many of you here who weren't there so I'll just, for one moment, I'll explain what I meant.. In Scripture, every time the word "church" is written down, it's the word "ekklesia." And it's translated "church," which was an English word, actually a Scottish word, that meant "the house of God" and did not mean "the elect or the called out." So we've been introduced to institution because "the house of God" was always a building in ancient Scotland or England. By the time it was written as "church," nobody doubted what "church" meant. Everybody knew what "church" was. "Church" was a building where you went to worship God, in which to worship God. And it had a sanctuary and it was really set up, the whole system was set up in a manner similar to the ancient temple in Jerusalem. And it's just the perpetuation of the Levitical order in the day of the Melchizedek order.
As opposed to "the called out" who were always meant to be a people and never an institution. I believe these issues today qualify as heresies, under the Biblical - and by the way, the term "heresy" literally means "the exclusion of the truth." It's not like we blame each other with heresies if somebody says something we don't agree with. But you could see where they came in, but we pull out the big gun and we say, "It's a heresy." No, no we just don't see the same thing. But a heresy is something that's meant to obstruct the truth. That's the true meaning. And it cannot exist in the same frame of reference as the truth.
The two heresies I spoke about the last time were, first of all, calling the body of Christ the church, calling the ekklesia the church, institutionalizing it from the time that that word was brought into the English language - or the English Bible - in 1611. And I won't elaborate any further than that. Get the tape if you're curious enough to know what I was talking about.
Scheme 2: "Assembly or Meeting"?
And the second of these two heresies was to call a meeting "the assembly" because the assembly spoken of in Hebrews 10:25 and following says, "Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together." Now this was a reference to the collection of the parts and the fitting of the parts together as they were supposed to be fit. And that this was not, and does not occur in a meeting. I'm not against meetings, but I'm against calling them the assembly of the body because what it does, it obscures the truth, prevents the truth, and that is that we are being knit together and it causes us not to anticipate both that we're a part of the body of Christ and that we are to be fit, joint fit in a proper relationship within the body of Christ. Instead it causes us to believe that meeting on Sundays or whenever, that that's "the assembly." Now there can be assemblies, but that, but this is a particular reference to a particular type of assembly. And it's the fitting of the body together. And it says: "Do not forsake that. Do not forsake where you have been put by the Holy Spirit when He put you in the body - both what He put you as and how He put you in the body." And that's what the other one was about.
Schemes 3 & 4: "Royal Priesthood or Clergy/Laity"? And "The Word or the Book"?
So now, to those two I want to add the doctrine of clergy and laity. That's another forbidding heresy because that one excludes you from even the expectation of being in the presence of God. And further, I want to add calling the written Word the "Word of God." And what that does, it does not allow you to anticipate that you will hear from God, that the Holy One actually speaks to you. Instead, it relegates all that you will hear from God to human interpretation of what God has said. Human interpretation, apart from the Spirit, is always a matter of cognitive associations. It's based in logic and it persuades men because they can see the logic of it. This is the very carnal and sensual wisdom that we are told to avoid. It's tainted and polluted because it's origin is not from God but from man. Paul said, "We didn't come to persuade you by the wisdom, by that kind of wisdom, but by demonstrations of the Spirit's power that your faith might not rest in the wealth of words, or in human credibility."
The above article is an excerpt of a larger article by Sam Soleyn entitled, "The Schemes of the Devil." You are encouraged to view the entire article, and other articles that relate by going to: http://www.soleyn.org/. Click on the link "Resources", and select the tab, "Alphabetical By Title." You may then view all articles in an alphabetical list.
Our intent in furnishing this article is not to offend or upset you, but simply to offer another view. Please remember the words of the Apostle Paul, "we see through a glass dimly." Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the Father's heart to you and you will see what you need to see for now. There's always more to see and receive from the Lord.
