In our last lesson we noted from Acts 14 how Satan continued trying to halt the spread of Christianity by inciting unbelievers to seek to kill the apostle Paul. Satan continues his work in our time through the misguided souls of the Muslim religion worldwide, and in our country through those who do their best to eliminate Christianity from public display.

They have had their greatest success in our public (government) school system at every level. They are further aided by those who claim to be Christians but who are not Bible believers. Among these are those claiming to preach and teach the word of God in pulpits throughout the land and even in church related schools of higher learning. They are greatly aided by this group. And an unsuspecting public, that is so sadly ignorant of the Bible, think they are being given the truth and depend on these “pastors” to do so. The Atlanta Journal/Constitution recently published a lengthy report on this.

Through these means Satan has deceived the multitudes of nominal “believers,” and believers who follow the traditions of men, rejecting the inspired traditions of the apostles recorded in God’s Holy Word. There is either no knowledge of or no concern for the fact that what is presented as God’s way of salvation by most today is not what God presents in the New Testament. God’s way of salvation presented in Acts 2 is the best kept secret of the ages.

This started after the death of the apostles when influential church leaders decided they knew how to govern God’s church better than the way they had been taught by the inspired apostles, who had received from the Holy Spirit God’s plan of organization for each local church.

In Acts 14:23 we see that elders were appointed in every church. That’s talking about every local church. There was no organization above the local church in God’s plan. The elders were older men in the faith who met the qualifications given in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. In 1 Timothy they are called “bishops,” a word meaning overseer. Both Timothy and Titus show they were to be selected from those who were “the husband of one wife.” Titus uses the terms “elders” and “bishop” interchangeably. These elders were “overseers,” of the local church they were appointed in. There was a plurality of elders in every church. Their job was to shepherd the flock of God as a shepherd oversaw his flock (Acts 20:28). Today few denominations have elders and give the jobs appointed for them to the preacher, calling him a pastor But the term pastor means a shepherd, the function of the elders.

This is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Paul in Acts 20:29, 30. It defeats the God appointed system which prevent man’s system that so easily influences other local churches to follow their lead as in denominations with systems above and over the local congregation. To be faithful in following God a church must follow God’s appointed system. This was Christ’s design to protect the churches and until this protection was discarded, no error that arose in one church could be forced upon any other church.

God gave Christ all authority (Matthew 28:18 and made Him head over the church. But Christ’s authority has been usurped by many who do not go by all that God’s word says but only parts of it, plus adding to and changing His word. What about your church? Is it following Christ and His word by which you will be judged or the traditions of men?