THE IDOL OF HUMAN LEARNING

by
Scott Jones

Alas! How many today can make the same claim? How many today can honestly testify that while preaching or giving their testimony, Jesus Christ bore witness by his Spirit, just as he did with Peter in the above verse?

Very, very few indeed, for the idol of human learning has replaced the Holy Spirit, and WOE to those who are complicit, which includes almost all of those who stand in the pulpits today. Verily, they shall receive the greater damnation.

"While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word."

Jesus Christ and his true ministers don't need to give invitations, especially since these invitations, and calls for a decision for Christ, or the so-called sinner's prayer, are carnal and utterly unscriptural, are in fact nothing less than the inventions of carnal, unregenerate human learning. WOE unto these men, who perpetrate FALSE methods of salvation; WOE, WOE, WOE unto these men, who send countless millions to hell by their utterly false and carnal, unregenerate, unscriptural inventions. They shall verily receive the greater damnation.

In fact, Jesus Christ quickens whom he will, and he doesn't need the sinner's permission to do so; Jesus Christ quickens WHOM he will, WHEN he will, just as he did with Lazarus; Jesus Christ opens and no man shuts; Jesus Christ shuts and no man opens; aye, Jesus Christ quickens his elect WHEN HE WILL, and none can stay his hand, exactly as it is written --

"For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will." John 5:21

And those of you who think that you were born with free will may know INFALLIBLY that you have never been born AGAIN; you may know INFALLIBLY that you have never EXPERIENCED the RESURRECTION POWER of Jesus Christ in the MIRACLE of the NEW BIRTH; aye, you may know INFALLIBLY that the wrath of God abides upon you STILL, even while you imprecate the name of Jesus, and unless you renounce your arrogant, satanic pride, and BEG sovereign grace to make you a new creature in Christ Jesus, you may know INFALLIBLY that you will not set FOOT in the kingdom of heaven. WOE unto you arrogant, satanic free-willers, who exalt the will of sinful man over the sovereign grace of Jesus Christ. WOE unto you, for you shall surely sink into the lowest depths of hell when Jesus Christ HIMSELF declares he never knew you as he looks upon you with utter contempt and scorn in that day that he calls you CURSED and casts you into the lake of fire, where your arrogant pride will consume you for all eternity, for its worm dieth not, neither is its fire quenched. WOE, WOE, WOE unto the free-willer.

As opposed to inviting a man to lift his heart to Jesus Christ, if perchance Jesus Christ will grant him repentance unto life, or commanding by the power of the Holy Spirit a man to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, wherein the power of the Holy Spirit is communicated by the very command, as the Spirit wills, in that the command issues from one who is truly born of the Spirit; aye, as opposed to these, today's invitations, and calls for decisions for Christ, or cajolings to pray the sinner's prayer, are nothing but the product of an IDOL, even the IDOL of carnal, unregenerate human learning, issued by men who have NOT the Spirit of Christ, and who therefore have no power with God whatsoever. None at all. WOE unto these men, who intrude into those things which they have not seen. They shall receive the greater damnation. (Colossians 2:18)

"I do find in most men, such a spirit of whoredom and idolatry concerning the learning of this world, and wisdom of the flesh, and God's glory so much stained and diminished thereby; that had I all their aid and assistance at command, I durst not make use of ought thereof, and that, for fear lest that grace, and these gifts that the Lord hath given me, should be attributed to their wits, rather than the light of the Word and Spirit of God. Wherefore, I will not take of them from a thread even to a shoe-latchet, lest they should say, We have made Abram rich." John Bunyan, The Holy City

The idol of human learning kept the Pharisees from seeing the glory of Jesus Christ, and so, being blind to the things of the Holy Spirit, these illustrious scholars ignorantly asked --

"How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?" John 7:15

It is no different today. Modern apostate Christianity seeks men of human learning to lead its churches and stand in its pulpits, utterly abandoning the sole requirement of being filled with the Holy Ghost and with POWER, and so, like the blind leaders of Jesus' day, these modern men of learning are equally as blind as the Pharisees of yesteryear -- and as POWERLESS -- for with very, very few exceptions, none of these men are born of the Spirit, as is easily discerned by those of us who are. Moreover, when we hear such men preach, we cringe, just like A. W. Tozer, who solemnly observed --

"There isn't anything quite so chilling, quite so disheartening as a man without the Holy Spirit preaching about the Holy Spirit." The Tozer Pulpit, Vol I

Consequently, the pulpits today are likewise overflowing with unregenerate men, carnal men, who know nothing of the real spiritual truths of the gospel, nothing of the real spiritual riches of Jesus Christ, nothing of the real glory of Jesus Christ, having never SEEN his glory in the SPIRIT -- I say, having never SEEN his glory in the SPIRIT -- and who, as a result, have no power with God. None whatsoever.

Thus, they must fall back on their human learning before they can even speak a word in their sermons, and they must cajole men to come forward, to make decisions for Christ, to pray the sinner's prayer, and all manner of other anti-scriptural inventions, because they are absolutely, utterly POWERLESS, and so, like the concision of old, they desire to make a fair showing in the flesh by counting the numbers of people who have been cajoled to come forward. This is nothing but a carnal, unregenerate scorecard, satiating the lusts of carnal, unregenerate preachers. These men -- every one of them -- know nothing of the Holy Spirit, nor of the Spirit's teaching, nor of the Spirit's POWER. Nothing at all. They are as dead in their sins as the congregations they preach to, and unless they repent, they shall not escape. Behold, these men, these pastors, who pretend to be shepherds, but who are, by virtue of their unregeneracy, nothing but wolves in sheep's clothing, their misguided "good" intentions notwithstanding, shall receive the greater damnation. WOE unto them.

I must ask your sustained attention while I offer an outstanding excerpt from Edward F. Hills, an excerpt which exposes the carnal, unregenerate human inventions of modern apostate Christianity, an apostate Christianity which has turned the Bible inside out in favour of its own inventions, wherein modern apostate Christianity has replaced sound biblical doctrine with fleshly, carnal, ignorant sophisms of human learning by applying human wisdom to divine revelation, thereby intruding into those things which they have not seen, as opposed to those of us who are truly born again, who have most certainly seen. Observe --

Paul told the Thessalonians that the reason they knew they were elect was because when Paul preached, the Word of God came in the POWER of the Holy Ghost, REGENERATING POWER, aye, because a REGENERATE Paul COMMUNICATED that POWER in his REGENERATE preaching, as only a REGENERATE man can. Paul the REGENERATE had no need of carnal, fleshly, unregenerate invitations, or carnal, fleshly, unregenerate decisions for Christ, or the carnal, fleshly, unregenerate persuasions to pray the sinner's prayer, and what-have-you, for Paul had POWER, even the POWER of the HOLY GHOST. 1 Thessalonians 1:4-5

True ministers of Christ have done as Paul for two thousand years, and Jesus Christ, by his Spirit, has borne witness to his true ministers for two thousand years, JUST as he did with Paul. Indeed, this was the very principle that Spurgeon INSISTED upon, as even he himself noted with regard to his PASTOR'S COLLEGE --

"...but if men of learning and wealth should come, the College will not accept them unless they prove their calling by POWER to deliver the truth, and by the blessing of God upon their labors." Charles Spurgeon, Autobiography, A New School Of The Prophets

Spurgeon insisted that a man PROVE his ability to preach in the POWER of the Holy Ghost BEFORE he was admitted to his PASTOR'S COLLEGE, and it is noteworthy that human learning, such as schools or universities, had nothing to do with a man's qualifications. Nothing whatsoever. A man was admitted STRICTLY on his DEMONSTRATION that he could preach "in demonstration of the Spirit, and of POWER." 1 Corinthians 2:4

This was true of Bunyan, Whitefield, Edwards, and so many other GENUINELY born again Christians throughout history.

WOE unto you if it is not true of YOU, even you who preach and teach in the name of Jesus Christ, yet who demonstrably have no POWER with God, because you YOURSELF have never EXPERIENCED the RESURRECTION POWER of Jesus Christ in the MIRACLE of the NEW BIRTH.

"Preaching is to give life; it may kill... This letter-preaching has the truth. But even divine truth has no life-giving energy alone; it must be energized by the Spirit, with all God's forces at its back. Truth unquickened by God's Spirit deadens as much as - or more than - error. It may be the truth without admixture; but without the Spirit its shade and touch are DEADLY, its truth error, its light darkness." E. M. Bounds, Power Through Prayer

WOE, WOE, WOE unto the man who doesn't preach in the POWER of the Holy Ghost, just as Paul did, just as Peter did, just as Bunyan did, just as Whitefield did, and on and on. Yea, WOE unto that man!