Thanks, Mike, for bringing these things to our attention. Your words highlight the issue of “antinomianism”. Antinomianism simply means “against (anti)”-”law (nomos)-in the context of this discussion-against God’s law, which Jesus said He did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. This fulfillment finds its target in the New Covenant. The Old Testament uses the words “New Covenant” only one time. That place is Jeremiah 31, where the prophet tells us there would come a day when God would write His Law upon the hearts of His people. The New Covenant, far from releasing Christians from God’s Law, writes it upon our hearts, so that we have more than an outward/external law. Those in Christ, have God’s Law written upon their hearts. Love is the fulfillment of the Law. When we walk in love, we fulfill the Law (Romans 13:10). But the Law is never set aside, not even for the Christian. It is always there as the abiding standard of righteousness.

I like how you pointed out that God is teaching us to love the Law of God, to embrace it as the standard for righteousness - that standard is summed up in “Love God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself”. When we do not walk in love, the external Law is there to remind us, and to show us, that we have drifted from the Path, the Way, as it is called several times in Acts. The external Law reminds us that God is in the process of writing His Law upon our hearts, and indeed it is, even now, written upon the heart of the new man; but many things cloud God’s perfect Law. Therefore the Apostle tells us to lay aside the old self, and to put on the new (Ephesians 4:24). The experience of God’s Law written on our (Christian’s) hearts is a life-long experience; that experience is the process of sanctification, which will not be complete until the day “when we see Him we shall be like Him” (1 John 3:2).

You said well, that the Law convicts you (me also) of sin, and causes you (us) to come to Jesus for forgiveness and sanctification (1 John 1:9, forgiveness and cleansing). This process should be daily, as the old Puritans have told us, that we are called to live in a state of continual repentance-Not a morbid and continual introspection, but a glad and free enjoyment of Christ who came to set us free by knowing the truth, “Thy Word is Truth” (John 17:17), and “Your Law is truth” (Psalm 119:142). Always we must recognize that we are not completely sanctified (we fall short of God’s required perfection), and so being ready to confess our sins on a moment by moment basis, we also receive moment by moment cleansing with further sanctification; all this from our High Priest Who having offered one time, atonement for all our sins, ever lives to make intercession for us.

Another thing you brought up is truly worthy of diligent consideration-The issue of properly educating our Christian children (any child in a Christian family). I believe this is, if not the most debilitating practice among American Christians, is certainly in the top two or three. The Body of Christ can never be what God intends so long as 85% of us give our children to the government school system (AKA “public school”). The government school system claims to be neutral when it comes to education and “values”. This is clearly not so (as you said, there is no neutrality). The government school system, rather than building Christian children up in the faith, systematically destroys the faith of God’s tender plants, so much so, that 80%+ of Christian children schooled by the government school system leave the Church within a few years of graduating high school (these statistics come from an official (organizational) report of the Southern Baptists).

Clearly, rather than be silent concerning the error of our brothers and sisters in regard to the schooling of Christian children, we are compelled by the Lord to call them to a greater obedience; to call them to a great exodus out of the government school system that wars so successfully against the Body of Christ by destroying or severely compromising the faith of each succeeding generation. As has been said, the Bible never says, “Thou shalt not give thy children to the American government school system”. But clearly, the Bible does tell us to raise them in the “fear and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6), and that we are to be training them into the God’s worldview “day and night” (Deuteronomy 6), to love the Law of the Lord (Psalm 119:97, 113, 163, 165), and to obey Him (Psalm 78). A Jewish child once asked his father, “When can I study the philosophies of the Greeks?” His father responded, “God tells us to meditate on His Law day and night. If you can find a time other than day and night to study pagan philosophies, that is the time you may use to do so.” Perhaps this illustration is extreme, but it does bring to our attention the fact that God call US, Christians, not the government, to train our children for life. This education can come from Christian schooling, Christian tutoring, Christian homeschooling, or any other template of Christian education that inculcates the Christian worldview into Christian children. Surely we who are Christian parents will are responsible for this-surely we will be called to give account of this area of life which is one of the most significant aspects of Christian living-passing our faith to the next generation.

Mike, Thanks for stirring us up to “love and good deeds”! (Hebrews 10:24).

Eugene Clingman

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Below is the email to which I have above responded:

Friends&Family, some thoughts from the week since past Lords Day.

“Whatever happened to standards” ive heard some folks say. Standards are something to strive toward. Standards, are kind of a tricky thing because they can stir up a number of emotions based on how they are or have been used, sort of like “law” and “gospel”. The one who recieves either (law/gospel) in the grace of God, sees them both as good news, the one who doesnt, sees them both as bad, oppressive, unreasonable, condemning. This principle has been a good prayer guide for me, helping me delight in the law of God, recieving His gospel grace when I fail. I dont want to dispise the Law of God doing my own thing. Failing more often than I like, I continue to ask forgiveness, and Jesus is good to forgive and restore.
GOD has standards, and we need to recieve them in the grace of the one who gives them. Of course, Im assuming that if Paul gives an instruction for the way we should conduct ourselves, that we can assume it is a biblical standard. Ignoring Gods standards because they dont fit whats going on in the community/culture, reveals where our loyalties lay. Having a “relay for life” bake sale during Lords Day worship time, reveals where supporters think their help comes from. Where is our allegence, and where does it belong.
For a Christian, we dont have the latitude to make decisions based on what seems right for us, when there is a biblical standard to guide us. Ignorance is one thing, and willful dismissal is another, and its the church’s job to help the flock make wise decisions based on biblical standards.
I heartily agreed with Pastor Sam in his mothers day sermon, that a Christian should not make decisions (like tithing, in his example) from purely practical reasons. This approach is good, so lets spread it around a little more, push it into a few corners, after all were not pragmatists, were Christians. When we read verses like Titus 2:5, it may seem unpractical at first for a woman that has a family to be a keeper at home instead of having a career. When our property taxes are taken and given to a secular school system, it would seem practical to send our Christian children there, but the Bible tells us our Christian children should recieve a uniquely Christian education founded squarely on the chief cornerstone, Jesus Christ. There is no such thing as neutrality, and indoctrination into a religion is always happening, just which one, is the question. The author of this article( http://www.realclearreligion.org/articles/2013/05/13/secularists_with_bible_tinsel.html ) does an excellent job of describing the relationship between culture, religion, and how they interact. Id love to hear your thoughts.

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You are also invited to see the International Church Council’s theological document, “The Education of Christian Children“. Other articles by Eugene Clingman on education - see here under the entry “21. The Education of Christian Children“.

In the last two articles (see left side-bar for link to previous articles) we looked at Abraham, the fountainhead of the faithful, the father of many nations, the inheritor of the world (Romans 4:13). As the fountainhead, we Christians are Abraham’s offspring (Galatians 3:29). To Abraham was given the covenant of circumcision which was to be applied to adults coming into the faith, and to eight day old infants born to those who believed. We saw that there is a correspondence between circumcision and baptism, the one being the sign and seal of the covenant under the Old Testament, the other the same under the New Testament. We also saw that because the foundation of the New Testament church is Jewish, the massive cultural momentum of including children in the covenant since the time of Abraham, if it had been changed at the start of the New Testament church, would have left skid marks, so to speak; there would be evidence of such a momentous change. But the New Testament does not show even the faintest skid marks. Instead, the first New Testament sermon preached, promised that as it had been in the past, so it would continue - “the promise is to you and to your children” (Acts 2:38-39). We also saw a number of verses that show how the New Testament assumes children are part of the church.

Old Testament Baptisms

In this article I want to look at the origin of baptism, its meaning and its mode. The New Testament (NT) tells us that baptism originates in the Old Testament (OT). Hebrews 9:9-21 tells us about these OT baptisms. Of the “first tabernacle” and its ordinances verse 9-10 says, “It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience– ¹⁰ concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.” The word “washings” is the Greek word baptismos (Strongs #909; root #911). In his little book, The Meaning and Mode of Baptism (page 9), Jay E. Adams writes concerning this passage, “Ritual baptism is as old as the law. The law is replete with ceremonial purifications. These are baptisms. That fact must not be missed. John’s [the Baptist] baptism was nothing new to the Jews. From the days of Moses they had known the ceremony of baptism. There can be no question about this since the New Testament itself calls the Old Testament purifications “baptisms”…It is crucial to note that the law never required immersions, but frequently required “sprinklings.”

We see in the preceding paragraph that the New Testament says there were Old Testament baptisms. When we go and search the OT for baptisms, we find that never is there an example or ordinance for immersion baptism. Baptism is always by sprinkling or pouring.

The New Testament calls these Old Testament sprinklings “baptisms”. In addition, the OT never once speaks of immersion baptism. We must conclude therefore that the mode of baptism in the OT is sprinkling, and this is the baptism the Jews were acquainted with and accustomed to when John the Baptist came on the scene. And since there is no evidence to the contrary, we would need to conclude that Jesus (His disciples) performed this same type of baptism of which the Jews were accustomed.

Baptism of the Holy Spirit and Water Baptism

An additional proof that NT baptism is pouring or sprinkling is seen in the close association of baptism to the Holy Spirit.

“For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body–whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free–and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:13

By the Spirit each Christian is baptized into Christ (Rom 6:3), and consequently also into the body of Christ. By what mode does the Spirit baptize? Another way to ask this is How does the Spirit come in contact with a person? The Bible teaches us that the Holy Spirit is poured out upon people (Acts 2:17, 33; 10:45; Rom 5:5; Titus 3:5-6), He falls upon people (Acts 8:16; 11:15), and He comes upon people (Acts 19:6). The Bible never suggests that people are immersed, dipped, or bathed in the Holy Spirit.

Baptism of the Spirit is the spiritual, inner reality that places us in Christ and His body. Spirit baptism is always by pouring or sprinkling and never by dipping, submerging, burying, or bathing. It is reasonable to assume that the outward sign of the inner reality ought to represent and picture the inner reality. Outward baptism ought to picture inward baptism, the symbol reflect the reality. Baptism then ought to be by pouring or sprinkling, not dipping, burying, or submerging.

Robert Rayburn writes, “To try to separate baptism from the work of the Holy Spirit is to do violence to the whole revelation of the Scriptures upon the subject. Real baptism is the work of the Holy Spirit, and water (ritual) baptism is that which symbolizes His work. Yet the most uneducated reader cannot fail to see that in the New Testament believers were not dipped into the Spirit, nor were they immersed in Him, nor plunged down into Him; but, to the contrary, the Spirit was shed forth, was poured out, fell, came, or rested upon them, and as a result they were baptized with the Holy Ghost. Baptism then is not the person’s being put into the element [water], but rather the elements being put upon the person. It is impossible to prove anything from Scripture if this point is not proved: that a person is properly baptized when the element [water] of the baptism is put upon him.”[1]

Conclusion

We have seen two ways in which the Bible teaches the mode and meaning of baptism. First we saw that since early OT times, baptism has pictured cleansing and purification. These baptisms of purification were never done by dipping or submerging, but always by pouring or sprinkling.

Secondly we saw that because water baptism is a sign of the inner baptism of the Spirit, and because the Spirit always comes upon the person, and because the person is never dipped into or submerged into the Spirit, water baptism ought to reflect this reality. Water baptism ought to be by pouring or sprinkling in which the water comes upon the person, not by submersion in which the person is placed down into the water.

Does this mean that if you were dipped you need to now be sprinkled or poured upon? I believe the answer is, “No, you do not”. I also was dipped, and it has been a decade’s long journey to understand paedobaptism and the reasons for it. If you were baptized in the Triune Name, your baptism is valid whether dipped, sprinkled, or poured. Baptism in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is a good and valid baptism. Yet I believe a more Biblical baptism in which the water comes upon the person rather than the person being put down into the water is in keeping with the Biblical revelation, and teaches truths that will bless and benefit God’s people.

We invite you to RSVP for the free summer conference to be held Saturday, August 18, 2012.

In the last post, we looked at Abraham, who is “the father of us all” (Romans 4:16). Abraham is the fountainhead, the father of both Jew and Gentile, that is, of all who believe in Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:29). As such he is significant to Christians today, and the covenant God made with Abraham includes us, and continues through us to the next generation and to the end of the world (Genesis 28:14; Matthew 20:18-20). We saw that though the covenant with Abraham was one of the righteousness that comes by faith, yet eight day old children, who were not capable of cognitive faith, were included in it, for the sign of the covenant, circumcision, was applied to them.

As we consider the transition from the Old Testament (OT) church (Acts 7:38) to the New Testament (NT) church, we should keep in mind that the Gospel was “to the Jew first” (Rom 1:16; 2:9-10). When Paul came to a new town, he customarily went to the synagogue first, and normally some of the Jews responded and became the first members of the church in that town, along with the God-fearing proselytes - the Jewish converts who believed (Acts 13:42-43; 14:1; 17:10-12; 18:4; 19:8-10; etc.). In other words, the foundations of the NT Church are Jewish. Paul describes this transition from the Old Testament church to the New Testament church in Romans 11:15-24. He describes an olive tree with root and branches. Some of the Jewish branches were broken off during the transition from OT to NT and Gentiles were grafted in “among” the already existing branches to partake of the same root stump, becoming part of the already existing faithful people of God. The Church’s foundation is Jewish.

The fact that the foundations of the New Testament Church are Jewish is significant especially when it comes to the present topic. By God’s command, the Jews had included their children in the Covenant all the many generations since Abraham. If all of a sudden children were excluded, the New Testament would tell us about the challenges of working through that eminently significant change. As one respected theologian said, “There would be skid-marks” that would show where the momentum of this massive cultural practice had come to an end. However, there are no skid marks. There is no evidence of such a significant change. Instead, the first New Testament sermon told the Jews and Gentile proselytes their children would be included in the promises of the Gospel just as they had always been included in covenant relationship since Abraham (Acts 2:38, 39). There is a sense in which every page of the New Testament declares that God has ordained that children continue to be included as members of His church, no longer by circumcision, the OT sign of the covenant, but now by baptism, the NT sign of the covenant[1]. In what way does it so speak? - In that there is not a single page of the New Testament where we find mention of the upheaval which would most assuredly have occurred if there had been such a momentous change. There is not the slightest whisper in the New Testament of such a change in the status of children. Instead, it is assumed throughout the New Testament that children are part of the church (Ephesians 6:1, 2; Acts 2:38, 29; 1 Corinthians 7:14; Matthew 19:14).

Widely respected theologian and churchman, Benjamin B. Warfield said, “God established His Church in the days of Abraham and put children into it. They must remain there until He puts them out. He has nowhere put them out. They are still then members of His Church and as such entitled to its ordinances.”

• God commanded children be included under the sign of the covenant in the Old Testament, and
• The first NT sermon preached assured the Jews and Jewish proselytes that their children are still included, and
• There is no mention or hint in the NT that Children have been excluded from the NT sign of the covenant, and
• The NT assumes children are included in the Church today (verses above)

We are confident therefore that God has ordained that our children be included under the New Testament sign of the covenant which is baptism. We also draw encouragement and confidence from the history of the church which demonstrates that from most ancient times in the New Testament church, children were baptized.

Why is this important?
Why is baptism of children important? If God intends our children to be included in the life of the church in ways we are excluding them, we are missing the mark, and only God knows the scope of the benefits we withhold from them. Jesus says to let the little children come to Him, and not to hinder them. We need to ask, do our church traditions hinder them? If God wants our children baptized, who are we to withhold baptism from them?

I invite you to prayerfully look up and study the verses in this article and compare them with the statements expressed in this article. A “Berean” is one who is “…fair-minded… in that [they receive] the word with all readiness, and [search] the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things [are] so” (Acts 17:11). Each of us needs to be convinced by God’s Word, not by the position of our church or traditions or even our extended family (Deut. 33:9).

“God established His Church in the days of Abraham and put children into it. They must remain there until He puts them out. He has nowhere put them out. They are still then members of His Church and as such entitled to its ordinances.” Dr. B.B. Warfield

I invite you to download a tract on this subject: From Blood to Joy.

God’s grace to you,

Rev. Eugene Clingman, M.Min.
Email: Eugene@4HisName.com
573-226-1312

After the Protoevangelium we can trace the hope of salvation through Noah to Abraham. It was to Abraham God said, “In you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 28:14). Abraham became the fountainhead of blessing to the nations, which blessing finds ultimate fulfillment in the seed “who is Christ” (Galatians 3:16). For this reason Abraham is of central importance. He became the father of all who believe, Jew and Gentile (Romans 4:11-12).

God’s covenant with Abraham extends to the second coming of Jesus Christ when He will judge the world in righteousness. The blessing of “all the families of the earth” continues through the preaching of the Gospel to all the “ethne” (Greek for peoples) of the earth (Matthew 20:18-20). We Christians are children of Abraham through faith in Jesus Christ (Gal 3:29). God’s covenant with Abraham includes all Christians today (Gal. 3:16; Rom. 4:11-12).

Along with that covenant, and vitally connected to it, God gave Abraham circumcision (Gen. 17:11) - the sign and seal of the righteousness that comes by faith (Romans 4:11). God commanded that this sign and seal be administered to all in Abraham’s family, including newborn children eight days old (Gen. 17:12; 21:4). Though circumcision pertained to righteousness by faith, it was administered to eight day old infants who had no ability to give verbal testimony to faith.

The question arises - Why was the Old Covenant sign of circumcision applied to infants and children, but the New Covenant sign of baptism[1], in some churches, is withheld from them? They say, “Children cannot express their faith, and Christianity has to do with faith and godly living (righteousness), for this reason we do not include them in baptism, which is the sign of the New Covenant.” We say it is true that the covenant has always pertained to faith and righteousness. Nevertheless God commanded Abraham to include children in the sign and seal of the righteousness which is by faith (Romans 4:11; Gen. 17). Children were circumcised for inclusion in a covenant of righteousness by faith before they could evidence faith. Did such inclusion change with the institution of the New Testament?

Next time I hope to answer this question. We believe the ramifications are significant for us and our children, significant enough that it is one reason we believe a new church for the Ozarks is a fitting hope and effort.

We hope you will RSVP for the free conference. You will find information by clicking the link in the left side-bar. Whether or not you have any interest in participating in a new church for the Ozarks, we invite you to be our guests at this conference. This conference is for all who are hungry for the good things of God, for faithful worship of God, and for fellowship with God’s people.

As we desired and prayed about a new church, it came into my heart to make myself more accountable in this way. I was already accountable to godly men, even fairly prominent men, such as Dr. Jay Grimstead of Coalition on Revival (www.Reformation.net), and Jerry Nordskog of Nordskog Publishing (www.NordskogPublishing.com), and I am a friend of Mark Rushdoony, President of Chalcedon (www.Chalcedon.edu). But all of them are on the West Coast, from which I originate. I began to feel that I should make myself more accountable to local men.

We had been attending Christ the King (CTK) in Springfield, MO nearly every month for four or five years. We had come to know the integrity of the ministry and of the men who oversee the ministry. A couple years ago, I invited Mike Gaskins (a leading man in our hoped for church), to go with me to talk with the elders of CTK and so made an appointment for a Sunday afternoon after church. We spoke to them about our desire to see a new church planted in the Ozarks. At that time, I asked the CTK elders to hold me accountable, to ask me hard questions any time. I submitted myself and my ministry to them. They agreed to hold me accountable and to give their blessing and spiritual and moral support to our effort to establish a new church. I am telling you this to let you know that we who seek to establish this church are not lone rangers; we are connected, with proper and godly connections. I believe this is important and it is an additional safety for the sheep that join themselves to a new church.

The Ministry of Christ the King (CTK)

Christ the King (www.ChristTheKingKirk.com) was started about ten years ago with just a few families meeting for Bible study and fellowship. Rob Davis, an accountant who had attended seminary earlier in life, was the key man and the one who led the studies. Rob sought a connection with the CREC (then The Confederation of Reformed Evangelical Churches; the name recently changed to The Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches). The CREC is the fellowship of churches to which our forming church will be also be connected. (See the CREC here: www.crechurches.org.) Beginning with Rob and his homeschooling family and a couple other homeschool families, Christ the King has grown to several hundred members.

These several hundred members are predominantly homeschool families. There is a tremendous environment of mutual encouragement and support in this church. Their pattern of worship is Reformed. A broad outline of a typical Sunday at CTK is like this: 1) Lord’s Day Worship with the Lord’s Table celebrated; 2) Potluck lunch and fellowship; 3) sometimes congregational song practice singing hymns in parts; 4) Sermon question and answer session; 5) Bible lesson given by the pastor, and question/answer session for Bible study; 6) Fellowship until one wishes to depart; there is no evening service. Christ the King is a “family integrated church” which means that they do not divide the family into age segregated classes; families participate in all aspects of the services; there is a nursery facility for mothers of nursing or small/noisy children.

A New Building for Christ the King

As a side note, CTK has been meeting in a Lutheran church’s gymnasium since its early years. Recently the Lutheran church decided they need that space for their own use. As CTK went about looking for new space, they approached a large church (about three miles from their present meeting location) about the possibility of renting the church facility that church was leaving (they had built a new larger facility on the edge of Springfield). To make a longer story very short, the church would not rent to CTK, but offered to sell them the three and a half million dollar facility for three hundred and fifty thousand dollars (10% of the appraised value). This is an amazing gift and grace of God! The large church trustees wished to pass the multi-million dollar facility to another Kingdom building ministry and so they made it financially accessible to CTK. Provided the transaction finalizes, CTK will be moving into that facility sometime in the near future. All this to say that it is wondrous what God will sometimes do for a people who are walking before Him.

We invite you to visit CTK on your own, or visit on a Sunday when we also will be there. They meet in the rear annex of Faith Lutheran Church at 1517 E. Valley Watermill Road, Springfield, Missouri 65803.

We cherish the hope of a new church for the Ozarks, a church where mutual support and growing in the things of God will take place in us and our children. If you desire to see God do something new, we invite you to visit our Men’s Study, or Family night meeting (see schedule below).

God’s grace to you,

Rev. Eugene Clingman, M.Min.
Email: Eugene@4HisName.com
573-226-1312

In ten months I will be sixty years old. For the greater part of my adult life I have been in ministry either as a pastor or an associate pastor in a local church. For the past fifteen or so years, I have not been a pastor in a church but been involved in other ministries (US Center for World Mission (www.uscwm.org), 1996-1999; The International Church Council Project (www.ChurchCouncil.org; 2000-currently)). Since my conversion at age 20, I have been a faithful church-attender/member. When we moved to the Ozarks, after visiting a number of churches in the area, and not finding a church I felt was fitting for us to attend regularly, we began to have church in our home. We invited others in the area and sometimes a family or two would join us in Sunday worship. However it was mostly my family only. I was not comfortable with this, knowing that we needed to be regularly meeting with other members of Christ’s Body. So I made some changes.

Today, we are sort of in a holding pattern, so to speak, as we pray and wait for the forming of a new church.[1] The current pattern for the Clingman Family’s Sundays is generally like this: one Sunday a month we attend Christ the King in Springfield. Christ the King is our covering or sponsoring church for this church planting effort; two or three Sundays a month we hold a church service for the residents of Hilltop Haven, a live-in residence in Eminence; and one or two Sundays a month we attend the local Baptist church in Eminence. This pattern is not what I would call ideal, and we hope it will be only for a short time longer. I am telling you all of this for full disclosure. A man who thinks he is following the Lord in seeking to establish a new church needs to be open with those he hopes to win to his side.[2]

There are other families in the Ozarks that do home church, often with no more than their own family in attendance. Gathering for Sunday worship as a family is honorable; it is certainly light years ahead of not doing church at all. But it is also leagues behind regular and faithful attendance in a church where believers meet with one another each Sunday to share the Lord’s Supper and fellowship together, learning together how to press into the worship of the True and Living God, and learning more of how to corporately serve Him as Christ’s Body.[3]

We know the verse in Hebrews: “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25). And we are familiar with the phrase that appears dozens of times in the New Testament, “one another”. The Apostles assumed that God’s people would be meeting together regularly, and so they often exhorted the believers in “one another” admonitions and encouragements. We need one another, and in order to relate to one another, the New Testament assumes God’s people would be meeting together with one another on a regular (weekly basis).

If you are hungry for a new church, and for God to do a new thing, we invite you to visit one of our meetings. Touch and see what we are up to. We invite you to ask God whether you might be part of a new church for the Ozarks. Especially if you are doing home church on your own (by yourselves), we invite you to visit with us.

We invite you to RSVP for the Heart of Worship summer conference sponsored by this Cornerstone Church start-up effort. Pastor Eric Sauder, pastor of Christ the King, Springfield, MO will be the main speaker. See the brochure by clicking the link at the top of the right side-bar in this newsletter.

We have hope that God will establish a new church for the Ozarks.

Your servant in Christ our Lord and God,

Rev. Eugene Clingman, M.Min.
Email: Eugene@4HisName.com

[2] This is not an independent action or effort of a single man. I relate to and am accountable to the Session (Elders) of Christ the King Church in Springfield, MO. The Session of that church, along with me, Eugene Clingman, will be the start-up elders of this new church for the Ozarks, Cornerstone Church (we look forward to establishing elders locally as God raises them up).

[3] When the Apostles spoke of Christ’s Body or the Body of Christ, it was in the context of the saints meeting together: 1 Corinthians 12:4-29; Ephesians 4:11-16; Romans 12:30-8.

All of us (you and me) Protestants are part of a group that came apart from the established church structure to pursue a more perfect way. The Reformation or Protestant movement came out of the Roman Catholic Church because they believed it necessary. This includes Baptists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, etc.

We who wish to form this church have this tension within ourselves, so that we both want to see the Church reformed from within, and at the same time feel that for our own sakes, but especially for our children, we ought to come aside, like the Pilgrims, to form a new church.

We acknowledge that the existing churches that name the name of Christ in purity and sincerity are part of the Body of Christ, God’s people. Yet we have concerns.

We are concerned that the modern, western church (Europe and North America) has become the handmade of the secular state. By sending their children to the government schools the children are being trained by the enemies of God, and are often recruited out of Christianity into secularism as a result.[1] Because this has occurred for generations, the government school mentality has been imported into the church as those government school trained children have become adult leaders in the churches. Such churches are permeated with what I call the government school spirit. This government school spirit is evidenced (at least in the local church my family attends frequently) by the celebration of the government school baseball, football, track, or swimming team winning, and also by the frequent announcements about government school activities, and by the active support of the government school programs. We homeschool our kids so that they are not part of the government school system. But when they relate to the government school kids at the government school endorsing church, they are affected by the government school spirit. Not only this, they see the pastor and church leaders tacitly approving the government school training of the large majority of the church’s children.

Another concern is that the churches in our community have acquiesced before the corrupting culture, have culturally retreated to live within the four walls of the church, and have given up hope of reforming the culture. The eschatology of the churches contributes to this, or is largely responsible for this. They believe the devil and his people are winning and will win culturally. As for the Church, they say, Jesus will come and rescue us out before it gets too bad by means of the Rapture. One way this giving up on culture is evidenced is by the belief that Christians should not be involved in politics; some Christians even refuse to vote.

We however believe that Jesus Christ has called us and our children to “possess the gates of our enemies” (Gen 22:17) and that the “God of Peace will soon crush Satan under our feet”! (Rom 16:20) We believe that Christians are called to disciple the nations (Matt 28:18-20) and not the nations to disciple us (as it is in the government schools). We therefore believe that God calls Christians to places in society where a difference can be made politically and culturally by being involved in politics, the arts and media, medicine, law, and every legitimate realm of human endeavor.[2]

We therefore are not content to retreat into the four walls of the church to wait until Jesus comes to take us out of this mess. We seek to equip ourselves and our children to take both sword and trowel (Neh 4:17) as we build the Church and contend for righteousness and Christ’s Kingdom on earth (Matt 6:10).

Here I have shared with you two reasons we hope to establish a new church. I hope to share more with you in time to come.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Rev. Eugene Clingman, M.Min.

In 1814, Robert Owen, who believed that all of society’s problems were caused by religion, published his multi-volume A New View of Society: Essays on the Formation of the Human Character. Building on the foundation laid by Locke, Owen promoted a socialistic view of education as a tool to build a populace, trained by the elite, who would be citizens transformed and conformed to what the state desired. Toward the end of his life, one of Owen’s followers, Orestes Brownson, a Unitarian clergyman, candidly confessed, “The great object was to get rid of Christianity, and to convert our churches into halls of science…schools from which all religion was to be excluded, in which nothing was to be taught but such knowledge as is verifiable by the senses, and to which all parents were to be compelled by law to send their children…this much I can say, the plan has been successfully pursued, the views we put forth have gained great popularity, and the whole action of the country on the subject has taken the direction we sought to give it.” Did you hear that? I encourage you to read that again and ponder it! Then look around and observe - “the plan has [indeed] been successfully pursued, the views [they] put forth have gained great popularity, and the whole action of the country on the subject has taken the direction [they] sought to give it”! Government education, often touted as a giant failure, has been a magnificent success. This success is not measured in children becoming educated, but in children being conformed to the desire of those who drive and direct the course of government education.

In 1821 the first public high school was opened. One year later, the first teacher’s college was established with the publically avowed goal of training teachers who would be part of the universal, compulsory education system. Teacher’s colleges would standardize teacher training which would result in standardized children - cookie-cutter kids, primed for manipulation by the state; this was their goal and still is.

In the next few decades a number of infamous characters entered the public school effort either directly or through their philosophies. Horace Mann rejected the Bible and in 1843 visited Prussia where he witnessed state funded, compulsory schools, with state certified teachers. He brought this vision back to America. Karl Marx’s influence began to be felt about 1848 when he and Friedrich Engels wrote the Communist Manifesto, in which document, plank number ten demanded free education for all. And do you suppose this “free education” was out of their concern for children? Not a chance! It was to move the entire population, generation by generation, toward socialism. I again invite you to take a look around. We are undeniably becoming a socialistic country. More and more people are employed by some aspect of government, and a continually growing percentage of the population is living on government handouts (welfare, Wick, subsidized housing, etc; also consider government takeover of private industry).

In 1867 the Department of Education was created. In 1889, G. Stanley Hall, first president of Clark University, took Darwin’s theory of evolution and applied it to children by developing age segregated education where children were required to learn with children their own age whether or not they were at the same level in skill and knowledge. Mann also was President of the American Psychological Association; he brought Sigmund Freud to the United States. Mann taught that religion could be set aside in favor of reason and science.

As government schools in America were gaining popularity, Robert Lewis Dabney, Chief of Staff to Stonewall Jackson, warned American society saying, “Any training which attempts to be non-Christian is anti-Christian. God is the rightful Supreme Master and owner of all reasonable creatures. Hence, to train a soul away from Him is robbery of God. He has not indeed committed to the state the duty of leading souls to Him as its appropriate task. This is committed to the family and to His church.”

Before Princeton Seminary was taken over by the Unitarians, E.E. Hodge was principal there. Hodge warned the Christian public, “Public education is anti-Christ! It is the catechistical arm of a godless government. It is an idolatrous institution aggressively hostile to your faith. Its intention is to purge the knowledge of Christ and Christianity from the minds of your children, and own them for the god called State. A comprehensive and centralized system of national education, separated from religion, as is now commonly proposed, will prove the most appalling enginery for the propagation of anti-Christian and atheistic unbelief which this sin-rent world has ever seen.” I ask you again to pause and look around. Has not Dr. Hodge’s prophetic warning come true?

Our contemporary, John Taylor Gatto, toward the end of his career, was twice awarded the Teacher of the Year. He quit his prestigious government education career because he came to believe the system broken and irredeemable. Mr. Gatto asks, “Is there an idea more radical in the history of the human race than turning your children over to total strangers who you know nothing about, and having those strangers work on your child’s mind out of your sight for a period of twelve years? Could there be a more radical idea than that!” Yet most of the children of this country, including 85% of the children of Christian parents, are subject to this twelve year brainwashing.

Jesus gave us good news! It is possible to build upon the rock of doing His Word. He also warned that self-destruction would be the end of those who do not build upon His Word. The government schools began with a faulty foundation. They are not built upon the foundation of God’s Word, upon Christ and the fear of the Lord which are the beginning of wisdom. This government school system, ordained by its creators to extract Christianity from the population, continues its successful campaign. It has borne awful fruit in America. From the foundation up, the government school system is rotten.

Approximately eighty-five percent of Christian children are schooled by the godless government school system. Statistics demonstrate that about eighty-five percent of those Christian children so schooled will leave the church shortly after they graduate from high school. Yet, every Christian parent I speak to insists that the school his child attends is different - different because their’ school has Christian teachers, or a Christian principle. In other words, Christian parents are in denial, a denial that has produced a cancer within the Church which is slowly, and surely, producing death. The only answer is to turn from this and call upon God to give us renewal. Nothing short of the faithful obedience called for by Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Ephesians 6:1-4, and Matthew 28:18-20 will answer the deterioration the church in America is experiencing. Oh that each of us might realize this - “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 1:7 Oh that we Christian parents would not be fools who despise wisdom and instruction! God requires Christian parents to give their children a thoroughly Christian education (2 Cor. 10:5). The options for Christian children include Christian school, Christian homeschool or some form of thoroughly Christian education. Education into any other worldview is unfaithfulness to the God who has called Christian parents to disciple their children for Christ. It is unfaithfulness to God to give our children to a system that is against Christ, is socialistic, relativistic, Darwinian and unbelieving such as the government school system in America.

Training our Children in the Christian worldview is one of the highest and perhaps the highest priority God has given Christian parents. Certainly higher than career, owning a home, owning a newer car, saving for retirement, recreation or creating a college fund. God calls Christian parents to make whatever sacrifices must be made to bring up their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Government school is decidedly not an option for pursuing this requirement! Grandparents are also called by God to help in the pursuit of this endeavor.

Here are a few children you might have heard of who were homeschooled: George Washington, Robert E. Lee, Patrick Henry, William Pen, Alexander Graham Bell, John Quincy Adams, Douglas MacArthur, Benjamin Franklin, Stonewall Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, John and Charles Wesley, Alexander Hamilton, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln.

We invite you to download from the internet the tract I wrote titled, Government Schools, Parents & Kids: How Will We Answer the Lord, and What Will He Say? I would be happy to mail you a printed copy upon request. Get it at: www.4HisName.com. Also download the ICCP theological document: The Education of Christian Children, from www.ChurchCouncil.org.

Good Christian!

Here are a some things you might like to reply with if you feel there is opportunity and need to continue to dialog. Send him the Education of Christian Children document which you can find at www.ChurchCouncil.org, and my education tract, Government Schools, Parents & Kids: How Will We Answer the Lord, and What Will He Say?, which you can find at www.4HisName.com.

Another thought…he points out that Deut. 6 and the Jewish culture taught/teach the child could/should be raised by the “Jewish” community. The government school is obviously neither the Jewish nor the Christian community. Government schools are a pagan culture, operated to a significant degree top down from the Federal government and the NEA which continues to push not only the homosexual agenda further and deeper across the entire country, but which also at foundation is completely secular humanist; the entire government school (GS) culture teaches that either God does not exist, or that if He does, He certainly has nothing to do with education and the world beyond education (GS are supposed to be preparing people for the world beyond the school doors, adulthood). The GS, as a system, teaches God’s non-existence outright at times and His irrelevance the remainder of the time. There is no way Deut. 6 can be construed to teach that it is permissible to send our Christian children into such a training system; and to say that our Christian children should be sent there for the sake of evangelism is an absurdity; Jesus did not send children when He spoke the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-22), He spoke to mature, full grown men, who had three and one half years of personal training with Jesus, the Incarnate God. On the other hand, Jesus taught regarding “these little ones” that it is better for a millstone to be hanged around the neck and be tossed into the sea that to cause “these little ones” to stumble; statistics even show this is absurd as I mention below, and as we consider that Christian children are not evangelizing, but being evangelized. The churches are not filling up with children saved out of the GS, but rather are emptying as young adults leave the church after being trained six hours a day, five days a week by the GS.

I believe the Word of God to those who delegate the pagan GS to train their children is such as this:

⁶ For You have forsaken Your people, the house of Jacob, Because they are filled with eastern ways; They are soothsayers like the Philistines, And they are pleased with the children of foreigners. Isaiah 2:6 (NKJV)

The church is filled with “eastern ways” because it is filled with parents and children who have absorbed and continue to absorb the spirit and assumptions of the pagan school system.

⁶ My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
Hosea 4:6 (NKJV)

The government school system has nothing to do with teaching God’s law, yet Deut. 6 tells us that immersion in God’s law (mandated by God in all of Scripture) is the requirement for a people who would not be destroyed. The government school system teaches children to forget God’s law. God says that when a people are in such a state He will forget their children. The forgetting of God’s law is evidenced by the fact (So. Baptist survey and other surveys) that 85% of children schooled by the GS leave the church by the time they exit high school.

To say, “Our schools are different” or “we have Christian teachers and a Christian principle”, is to overlook two things:

• The curriculum is not mandated locally (by either the teacher or principle) but by the state and federal governments and the NEA (there may be some local autonomy in selection between different curriculum which the above mentioned entities preselect; there is no local autonomy to outright select whatever curriculum the local school, principle, or teacher would like to select). Therefore though there is a semblance (appearance) of autonomy to select curriculum locally, in reality the curriculum is mandated via the preselecting process.
• Those teachers who refuse to teach what is mandated by the GS are probably breaking their covenantal obligation as employees of their employer which requires them to not teach about God’s law and God’s righteous requirements, obedience to which is sanctioned by God’s blessing on those who obey Him and God’s curse on those who do not. Both teacher and principle promise (i.e. they sign on the dotted line) when they become employed by the GS, to teach what the employer mandates. To fail to teach as required by their employer/employee agreement is to break a legitimate covenantal obligation toward the employer. Does the Bible teach Christians to do this? I think not.

Something Else to Consider and a Question to Ask
Self-government, church-government, family-government and civil-government are all realms of government to which God has given sovereignty. To each He has given a sphere of jurisdiction and to each He has given limits to their reach and legitimate involvement. Scripture shows us that God has given indoctrination (education) into the hands of the family and the church. Nowhere in Scripture do we find it intimated that indoctrination or education is within the sphere of the civil government. For this reason Christian teachers and administrators should ask themselves, “If God has not allowed the civil government to be an indoctrinator/educator, is it legitimate for me to participate in its effort to do so?”

A closing thought - Paul tells fathers to bring up their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6). To delegate one’s child to thirty plus hours of indoctrination per week by a system that certainly does not teach either the fear or admonition of the Lord, is to abdicate one’s fatherly commission toward his children. On percentages alone this ought to be clear - Do such fathers (who send their kids to GS) spend 50% (15 hours a week) of the time the GS spends (3o hours a week)  indoctrinating their own children into the things of God? I think not. How can we say we are being faithful fathers if the lion’s share of indoctrination comes from a system that teaches neither the fear nor the admonition of the Lord while at the same time Deut. 6 testifies to us that teaching the fear and admonition of the Lord is an all day activity!?

May God deliver His Church from this great error and gigantic compromise with the GS culture!

Good dialog Christian!

I invite you to see this excellent short video: The Call to Dunkirk

Warm Christian greetings!

It was a joy to be with you last night.

Today as I was scanning ahead in a book I have been reading I came across the appendix section that contains an article by David Chilton titled “Looking for New Heavens and a New Earth: A Study of 2 Peter 3″. Second Peter 3 is one of the passages we were considering last night. I thought to myself, I wish I could scan this and get it to you, but I don’t have a scanner. Then it occurred to me that I might be able to find it on the web - and I did! I am glad to continue to answer questions and dialog as God enables me. I want you to know and I am sure Mike would also say the same, that there is no requirement among us for a certain eschatological viewpoint. We are passionate about eschatology because we see that what one believes/anticipates about the future will determine to a large extent how he lives in the now. On the one extreme there are those who will not get married or have kids because they suppose the “tribulation” is coming or the rapture imminent and so “why have kids only to have them face the tribulation”, or, “no time to get married…pursue education…pursue a career…etc.”. On our side on the other hand, we believe Jesus is not coming soon (though He will certainly come at the end (last day), and in addition, He may come for you or me before the day is out today). We believe that there are generations yet to live on planet earth as God continues to work out the promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3) which is fulfilled through Jesus Christ, but which is not yet fulfilled completely, for He must reign (presently) until (future) all his enemies are made a footstool for His feet (1 Corinthians 15:25-26; see also Romans 4:13; Matthew 28:18-20; Psalm 22:27-28; Isaiah 2:1-4). And so we, rather than thinking and acting (living out presently) the idea that Jesus could come anytime or is about to come to end history, we have a vision for the future that allows us to build for the future, to build generationally; to have kids, to teach them to move out into their own generation into every legitimate realm of human endeavor, and to raise kids to go forth and do the same in their generation (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). For our, and their’ faithful work will surely prevail in history (Habakkuk 2:13-14). So, without taking too much time and space here, it can be said that there is a difference in how life is lived that directly results from how one perceives the future.

There are many questions for you yet to be answered; you have been taught a certain way, and lived in that understanding perhaps from youth. Yet there are many verses and passages that can be seen in a different light that makes much more sense and fits with the whole Bible (notice how many places I have noted verses from Genesis into the New Testament; the whole Bible has a single testimony of what God is up to on planet earth). You have lived in the culture of Dispensationalism (from your youth?). Dispensationalism is a new way of viewing Scripture, originating in the early 1800’s, popularized by J.N. Darby and C.I. Schofield, and continues to be popular through the writings of Hal Lindsey, etc. But a vision of victory in history is taught from Genesis to Revelation; a victory which Christ’s people not only are given (by the “it is finished” of the Cross), but in which they also participate as in “The God of Peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Romans 16:20). We follow Him who goes forth conquering His enemies (Rev. 19:11-14) until all His enemies are subdued (Heb. 10:12-13; Psalm 110:1; Rom. 16:20), and the final enemy, death, conquered (legally and effectively at the Cross by Christ “the firstfruits”) but not fully subdued until the “rapture”, the resurrection (conquered for all of God’s people - 1 Cor. 15:24-27, on the last day when no more days of earth history follow (John 6:39-40).

Well, here is finally, the article in the appendix of the book I am reading, but which I also found on line:

http://www.preteristarchive.com/Modern/1996_chilton_looking-heavens.html The book I am reading, by the way, is by Gary DeMar titled Why the End of the World is Not in Your Future: Identifying the God-Magog Alliance. It deals with Ezekiel 38-39, showing that this prophecy has already been fulfilled, and therefore is not to be anticipated for fulfillment sometime in the future as claimed by Hal Lindsey’s Late Great Planet Earth, and most of the popular prophetic writings of today.

God bless you my dear brother! I believe that if you continue on this “eschatological journey” with us, you are in for much delight! I commend you for your passion for discovering and affirming what the Bible itself says; this is an excellent character quality. Don’t lose this. I praise God that you are like the Bereans (Acts 17:11), who were of more “noble character…for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”

Before the Throne of Grace,

Eugene Clingman

www.Blog.GranolaDelights.com