Posted 10:56 AM by Gene

ChapmanForPresident08.com

Posted 7:48 PM by Gene

"One Wife"

Since I stirred so much controversy last week in my sermon entitled, "Polygamy," I felt this would be a good time to explore the qualification of both a bishop and a deacon to be the husband of "one wife."

We read in I Timothy 3:2, "A bishop (ie. pastor) must then be blameless, the husband of one wife." And in I Timothy 3:12, we read, "Lets the deacons be the husbands of one wife." The word "one" in both texts means, "first" or "one." It is the Greek word, "mia."

John MacArthur says the word means, "a one woman man" in his famed commentary. I can't draw that from my studies, but I respect the real possibility that I may not be as well studied as Pastor MacArthur, so I shall yield to his stature as a great Bible teacher at this point.

Clearly, a man in church leadership is to be not given to sexual relationships with multiple women. His focus is to be heavily on the work of God so that his drive for women is not as primary as others.

There has been great debate on the meaning of the word, "one" in relationship to divorce and remarriage for pastors in church history. The fact is that a "first" wife is the preferred wife in God's plan for a minister. I would not and could not tell a man that this text negated his being either a bishop (ie. pastor) or deacon, myself. But I respect those who go to the absolute end of possibilities in rejecting divorced and remarried pastors and deacons. I respect those who oppose me as a pastor, were I ever to remarry, given that my first wife left me for another model years ago.

My position has always been that in America we are in a mess; if God brings a better pastor to the flock than I, I'll gladly hand him the keys to the door.

There are many many different directions of technical meaning we can place on divorce and remarriage. My suggestion is, stay together at all costs if you want God's absolute perfect will for your life.

respectfully,

Pastor Gene Chapman

Posted 9:09 AM by Gene

"Polygamy"

Polygamy is the state of having more than one wife or concubine.

Years ago at Baylor University, I was a scholarship student studying undergraduate Law, but my focus was to become a lawyer/ preacher like the Father of The Reformation, Dr. Martin Luther, with whom I'd been compared by the American Press back in 1986 and 1987, as I'd challenged Pope John Paul II's Catholic theological assumptions with my billboard ministry. My liberal theology professor knew I was a hard core Bible thumper Fundamentalist in those days, as we had often verbally spared in class. Oneday, he became upset with my presumed astonishment at his assertion that Moses crossed the Red Sea in shallow water, as I said before the class, "That's amazing that God drowned Pharaoh's entire army in ankle deep water." The class laughed at the professor.

Then the professor charged back at me, "I'll give you or anybody in here an extra "A," if you can show me where in the Bible, Old or New Testament, it does away with polygamy." I took his offer, as did many of my fellow students in the class.

In the end, I never got that extra "A." He beat my fundamentalist assumptions on that point, and made me a better student of the Bible and even the U.S. Tax Code, as result. My assumptions mean nothing, if I can't back it up with chapter and verse, I learned.

In I Kings 11:3, King Solomon is reported to have 700 wives and 300 concubines. All it says negative of this is that Solomon's wives turned his heart away form God. I guess the concubines didn't play a role in this turning away from God. Who knows?

A concubine is like a second wife -- a woman who lives in the home but is not an heir to the man's property in any way. There are no marital obligations that must be fulfilled by the man's family to the concubine, were he to die. Nothing in the Bible does away with this lifestyle. In other words, you're not a sinner for having a live-in woman.

The New Testament does indicate that a church pastor/"bishop" (I Timothy 3:2) is not to be polygamous. He is to be the husband of "one wife." In other words, he is a one woman kind of man. It is interesting that this bishop is the head of the local church and not the tail. I think the preferred state for a godly man is to be prepared to be a bishop or "deacon" (vs. 12), and that requires that you not be a many woman type of man.

If, however, you see polygamy in your life, I couldn't and wouldn't oppose your lifestyle. Having a concubine or a wife or two is not a cut and dried sin in the Bible, so who am I to oppose it? I'm not God, and God didn't oppose it. Just be careful that you're not hiding these women from one another, as it would be immoral to portray yourself as being married or in a concubine relationship to one or more women, while not.

respectfully,

Gene Chapman, Pastor

Posted 4:45 PM by Gene

[ Sat Nov 08, 04:36:41 PM | Gene Chapman | edit ]
"The Law, The Law and The Law"

In the Bible, we find many laws, but I find three sweeping primary laws dealing with the human soul. There is "Moral Law," found primarily in Exodus and Deuteronomy. There is "Jewish Ceremonial Law," found primarily in Leviticus. And there is the "Law of the Members," addressed by the Apostle Paul most clearly, in my humble opinion, in Romans (see: Romans 7:23).

Both "Moral Law" and "Jewish Ceremonial Law" are found in the "Law of Moses." The first five books of the Bible are the books written by Moses, containing Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. So how do we discern these laws apart from one another?

Well, a very interesting problem comes up while Paul is traveling and preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles in the book of Acts. Jewish people come in behind Paul's work at Antioch (see: Acts 14:26-28), demanding that new Gentile converts must be circumcised to be "saved" (Acts 15:1). So Paul and Barnabas determine that they must go to the Church at Jerusalem to get this matter heard before the "apostles and elders" (Acts 15:2).

At Jerusalem, Peter was there (Acts 15:7), as was James (vs. 13). After some discussion, James lays out the plan for dealing with Jewish Ceremonial Law. He says, "Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: But that we write unto them, that they abstain from polutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood" ( Acts 15:19-20).

James lays out here in Acts 15 a distinction of how that there are both "Moral Laws," presented by Moses and universally consistent with the Spirit of God in the heart of humankind, that are to be forever striven for by all Christians, and there are "Jewish Ceremonial Laws" (ie. circumcision, abstaining from pork, etc.), also presented by Moses, that are to be ignored by the Gentiles.

Now, let's look at Paul's' "Law of the Members" in light of what we just learned. Paul, in Romans 7 writes of this internal conflict between his spiritual man, who seeks all that is right, and his old man, who is directing him back into sin-after-sin-after-sin in his private life. Paul has a desire to keep the universal Moral Law of the Spirit, but he finds that he can't keep himself from breaking even Moral Law, even while being a saved man. Paul might well have been confessing here to being the Jeffrey Dhomer of his era, for we know, but the one thing we know for sure is that Paul was in a heated fight with his sin nature to live a more all around godly life. (Note: There was no discussion of Jewish Ceremonial Law.)

So when we see a professing Christian sin, we do not assume he or she is lost or even a hypocrite. We assume they are in that legitimate fight for personal holiness for which all Christians strive. Jewish Ceremonial Law doesn't even come into this conversation.

What we see with the error of the new homosexual Bishop of New Hamshire, for example, is an incorrect mixing of these three laws. He has a heart to engage in homosexual conduct so much so that he divorced his wife in order to move in with his male lover. He is using Jewish Ceremonial Law arguments made by the Apostles in order to justify breaking Moral Law, and his heart is in it, he says. Infact, Jeffrey Dhomer has a better chance of making it to heaven than the new Bishop of New Hamshire, based on every study I've ever made of Holy Scripture.

Bottom line: If your heart is favorably disposed to do Moral Law, found in Deuteronomy, Exodus and many other places; if you feel horrible when you break Moral Law, then you're being guided by the Spirit, assuming you asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior at some point in your history.

On the other hand, if you break Moral Law, which is the Law of the Spirit, and take personal and private internal pleasure in it over-and-over-and-over, never seeking to change your behavior toward a more holy life, you never were saved. You never did believe in the Resurrection of Jesus or the second coming of Jesus in the first place because "every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself" (I John 3:3) to meet Moral Law/ Spirit Law measurements of his or her life.

respectfully,



Gene Chapman, Pastor

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Posted 5:43 AM by Gene

"My Daddy Destroyed Sodom"

Several years ago, I heard Oprah Winfrey say on her television show, "Jesus was silent on the issue of homosexuality." The inference was that the New Testament brings an opening to the homosexual community to have full fellowship in the Church and with God while in their act.

Well, in Luke 17:29, Jesus the Christ endorses the Old Testament story of the destruction of Sodom. It reads, "But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all." Sorry Oprah, Jesus is saying here, "My Daddy Destroyed Sodom," as we examine the whole of Scripture.

Just two days ago, we saw the first openly homosexual bishop in the Episcopal Church put in place here in America. His name is Gene also, and so I even started shopping for a new name for an afternoon (ha ha). If I were to sit in a room with this new bishop, I'd direct him to the text I just presented above, then I'd take him to Luke 18:17. Jesus states, "Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein." I'd ask the new bishop, "Would a little child, who had heard the story of Sodom, say that homosexuality was a bad sin?" "Would a little child say that divorcing your wife for an homosexual relationship disqualified you from such a post in the Church, Mr. Bishop?" "Mr. Bishop, by this affair with this man, are you in "good report of them which are without'" (I Timothy 3:7), realizing that the people outside the Chruch know the story of Sodom too and could see the hypocracy of a minister claiming that right in the text of Scripture is wrong and wrong is write?"

I say with Martin Luther, "Solo Scriptura!" 'The Bible Alone!' is my standard of faith and doctrine. I'd hate to meet God with answers for my life conduct that I'd made up on my own, as I stand before His Majesty on my Judgement Day.

Sin is in all our lives, but calling those sins right is to call God "wrong" and His Holy Word "failed." Not me pal.

Most respectfully,



Pastor Gene Chapman

Posted 6:49 PM by Gene

sexandfamily.blogspot.com is dedicated to exploring human sexual and family issues from a Biblical perspective. Pastor Gene Chapman. gentlelove.blogspot.com