Tabernacles Central

Everything Needs A Firm Foundation

When you built a structure in ancient times you needed many different types of craftsmen. A particularly important type of craftsmen was a stonemason. They were responsible for cutting out the stones from the native rock and shaping them to the correct specifications needed in construction. Stonemasons had to know their craft very well for the stones had to be straight and true or else the building would not stand the test of time. The study of the word of God can be likened to the discipline of stonemasons because God says through His prophet Isaiah that understanding scriptures is like building a brick wall,

“Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.”

 Isaiah 29:9-11

 (Note, it is also necessary to be filled with the Holy Spirit in order to understand doctrine.)

He is a fundamental truth,

“Up and coming Tabernacle theologians must move beyond insisting theology dictate what must be true to searching the scriptures to explain what truly is.”

Currently, theologians have a set of doctrines that they consider fundamental and unchangeable. Most theologians accept a set of axioms they believe are proven by the great masters of the past. Therefore, the postulates of yesteryear are never critically re-examined. They must not be questioned even in the face of overwhelming spiritual evidence to the contrary.

Theologians fear being labeled as heretics

One of the main reasons the fundamentals of Christian doctrine are never questioned is people fear being labeled a heretic. This is especially true of those who are schooled in the theological seminaries of the world. There is tremendous social pressure on believers that, though they may question, they must never challenge accepted dogma.

Here is a truth,

Young theologians are schooled in the tools of the trade such as Greek, Hebrew, and hermeneutic principles. Yet, these disciplines are only used to prove what is already accepted as fact. These tools are hardly ever used to critically examine whether these things be so in the first place.

It makes no difference that the doctrines they believe actually produce the promised or desired results, but only that they line up with accepted teachings. In turn, this produces a church that holds many doctrines that fail miserably in real-world situations.

Obviously, what we are doing isn’t working very well

For example, a young woman I knew named Faith fell ill with lung cancer. She was a pastor’s daughter and had never smoked in her life. In the late stages of her illness she went to a Benny Hinn crusade to receive prayer. As she mounted the platform she was told that she did not need Benny to pray for her because she was already healed. Some months later she lay dying with about a dozen people praying for her healing until she finally gave up the ghost. She left a husband and two young children.

Losing Faith

When something like this happens, such as Faith dying, our doctrine is never questioned or re-examined even though it does not work. On one hand, our doctrine says that those that believe shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. On the other hand, Faith died. Instead of admitting that something in our belief system is seriously wrong, we make excuses such as “it was not God’s perfect will for her to be healed.” Instead of saying something we believe is wrong, we simply say that God’s will is a mystery and we cannot know precisely why our doctrine failed. Though Jesus healed “all” that came to him, we accept that Jesus in us only heals a very few that come to us.

Here is a truth,

 “We cannot insist that the world, natural or spiritual, fit our doctrine when it does not.”

We must remain flexible in our beliefs in order to accept new truth when it is shown to us. To illustrate this point let me use a natural world example dealing with scientific theory.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Einstein came up with the general theory of relativity which viewed the universe in a different way than Newtonian Physics.  Einstein’s theory did not do away with Newton’s work but merely extended and expanded a special instance of it. Those who understood and had tested Newton’s laws of motion had to consider something radically different. The reason that Einstein’s theory gained acceptance even though it went against the accepted wisdom of the day was that it better explained the phenomena observed by the scientists in real-world experiments.

Let me think on this a while

Interestingly enough, when Einstein confronted Quantum Mechanics, he rejected it saying “God does not play dice”. Whereas Einstein’s theory was counter-intuitive to those schooled in Newtonian Physics, Quantum Mechanics ran counter-intuitive even to Einstein himself. In fact, Quantum Mechanics runs counter-intuitive to almost anything that seems reasonable to the natural man. One could easily dismiss what it says except for one important fact: it accurately explains almost every experimental result that scientists measure at the subatomic level.

Likewise, for theologians who were schooled in Catholic doctrine, salvation by faith was a major rethink of the fundamentals they believed. Most rejected God’s salvation by faith, but some, like Martin Luther, embraced it and thus was born the reformation. For Theologians schooled in reformation theology, accepting the Pentecostal movement also stretched their understanding of scriptures.

Nevertheless, the Pentecostal movement was of God. In our day and age, Tabernacles theology will re-write or modify much of what we consider established doctrine. New theologians will see that Tabernacles both accurately describes the scriptures to a degree previously not thought possible.

What tabernacles theologians need to understand

Tabernacle theologians must move beyond being defenders of the faith to realizing that they are explorers of the faith. We must cast off the shore into the deep things of God searching for undiscovered lands of the Holy Spirit. The admonition to prove all things and hold fast that which is true means to put them to the test. Putting new ideas to the test mean we test them against raw scripture to prove them true or false.

Rebuilding the foundation

Lastly, when a building is shaky, it’s the foundation that must be examined to see if the stones are set right. Revisiting the foundation stones of our theology is not forbidden, but rather necessary so that the church can stand strong. If we find a foundation stone out of place, though it is not pleasant work, we must set it right in order that the whole structure remains firm. Thus, Tabernacle theologians cannot be set in stone but must remain fluid so that, if necessary, we can make changes as God shows us further revelation.

My writings are the beginnings of such a new Tabernacle theology.  I invite those who are called to God’s word to study the scriptures in light of these precepts so that as God starts to bring His people into the final feast they will be equipped to navigate the deep things of God.

New Wine by Hillsong

Suggested book, “I Dared to Call Him Father” by Bilquish Sheikh

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