The Master's Seminary: surrender to all

The Master's Seminary is pumping out more error, this time in it's cry of "surrender all" to God-hating "authority". Worse, they are hypocrites. They have not submitted to WASC with all the "reverence and joy" that they are telling everyone else to do. 

Quote:

As believers, we surrender to every governing authority over us.

The battle cry of every believer is, “I surrender. I submit to your authority.” I want you to notice the comprehensive nature of this command. Peter says to every human institution, and then he refers to the king – which speaks of national authority, and then he speaks of the governor – which refers to local authorities.

As the government rages against believers at every level, whether it be at the national level, the state level, the local level, or the municipal level, we are to surrender to every manifestation of institutional authority placed over us. Thus, we are to surrender, submit to, and honor President Trump, President Obama before him, President Bush before him, and President Clinton before him.

We are to honor Governor Jerry Brown the first time he was in office, and the second time he was in office. We are to submit to the Supreme Court’s rulings, whether they lean to the left or whether they lean to the right. We are to obey every law that is passed by the legislature, whether we like it or not. Thus, whatever the government’s attitude toward believers, the one thing that the government should be able to count on of all believers is our total submission and deep reverence toward their authority.

The only time we are free to disobey the institutional authorities is when they command us to disobey our Lord and Master, but short of that, we are to be exemplary citizens, submissive and reverential to the authorities over us. That’s because every authority has been placed there by God Himself. This is what Pastor MacArthur refers to as evangelistic citizenship.

But our surrender is not limited to the political level, it applies to the societal level as well.....

End quote. 

~ Carlos Chung, The Master's Seminary blog

It's pretty hard to take TMC seriously anymore, given their abject rebellion against Christ the King and His own sheep. Moreover, their history of not submitting to WASC shows their hypocrisy.

TMC is using an historic and personal event (Daniel & the kings) to try and create an emotional attachment between God-hating employers and Christian employees, while ignoring the hostility between them. What he doesn't address is MacArthur's compromise of willingly surrendering to LGBGT's demand of equality in marriage via Christians baking a cake for their "weddings" which seeks to legitimize such wicked unnatural things. And that's where this seminary is going--submit to the thinking that then drives the "orders" or "suggestions". Our fight is a spiritual one that starts with doctrine and never, ever, are we to submit to anything contrary to sound doctrine.

Joh 15:18 "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

Joh 15:19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Joh 15:20 Remember the word that I said to you: 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

Btw, if all this abject submission, which is actually surrendering to (to surrender is entirely different than submission, btw. Surrender has the connotation of bowing to authority in defeat and having a mindset of giving up, waving the white flag for peace. We aren't at peace w/ those who are outside of Christ. But honestly, Chung is right even for the wrong reasons--he is calling for a surrender to that which is hostile against Christ and HIS sheep--NOT submitting to the government God placed in society) to the government and society authorities is without qualification save one: outright order to disobey God--but again, unsound doctrine is, itself, disobedience, is for "the sake of the gospel", pray tell, where is all the evangelizing going on? Where is his own proclamation of the Gospel? That in itself would cause many to be fired. Or is he of the error that the world will "see your good works and glorify God" --ie, become pro-Christ and pro-Christian or at the very least, become neutral? But I digress a tad.
Herein lies the rub: the claim to surrender to all authority for the Gospel is ONLY the surrendering to keep the job. This is just another friendship (employee? citizenship?) evangelism where attachments are made and the Gospel (the right Gospel) is never given. It is a way to religiously justify the sins of our government and society and claim "it's for the gospel!" so that they don't lose their jobs or tax exemption. This is exactly the pragmatism that these men will indeed claim when they are told to take the number of the Beast. Chung revealed this mindset: "Just recently, we had LGBT training at the superior court where I work. They wanted the name of every judge who refused to attend. It is no secret that private companies oftentimes are monitoring employees’ social media posts to decide who they will hire or fire, who they will promote or not based on what the social view is of those individual employees."  His job is at stake. Pragmatism will keep him surrendering to anti-biblical philosophies and practices while claiming to do it "for the Gospel". The problem is that the Gospel isn't proclaimed in one's works. That is to say, there is no silent witness of the Gospel. There is to be, however, integrity between one's practice and one's practice (which is indeed what we see with Daniel--but I can't say TMS is filled with Daniels since there's but one historic one and today's Evangelical leaders are compromisers). 

God didn't institute employer/employee as such. He instituted three things: government, marriage, and the church. TMC is blurring the lines and saying basically all things, all institutions, are God's vessels for managing order on earth. Chung ignores that slavery was part of the governmental system. That's not an institution God created as good;government, marriage, and church are. Moreover, employment is not the same as slavery. Slavery isn't a choice for most people. That is to say, for nearly all of slavery's history worldwide, it was not the same as being an employee where you could leave if you wanted to and it wasn't indentured service either. Again, once the debt was paid, the indentured servant was free and clear. And I'm not saying we aren't to be good citizens and employees. We are, but we are for the sake of the biblical Lord Jesus Christ. Integrity to the King of kings, however begins with living out sound doctrine. Therefore if you have false doctrine, your already in violation of His commands because Truth is not simply ideas to give intellectual ascent to, but is to be convicted of, believed, treasured, loved and thus practiced because they come from the Holy One of Israel. Chung continues this blurring when he says it's all the same submission (surrendering) whether to the government officials or to an unsaved husband or how to love the wife of the husband. Yet in his trivial treatment of the context, doctrines, and issues he touches on, he fails to acknowledge the spiritual issue of marriage which has no correspondence of a citizen with the government. The result will be a wrong ecclessiology and thus fuehrer elders.

In fact, Al Mohler's offence at being questioned on his stances on homosexuality, etc and then immediately following that, MacArthur's refusal to fight his friends on error seems to show a friendship fuehrer that holds men in contempt of King Jesus' commands and fidelity to Him in order to appease one's influential friends. Ironically, MacArthur's excuse was he "doesn't want to become an island" but that's exactly where all this is headed---exclusion from society and Evangelicalism and the Good Old Boys' Club (conferences, speaking engagements, book tours, publishers, seminary appointments) because of fighting error wherever it's found (and it being among his friends who are supposedly "experts" on all things Bible by position his friends are more treacherous for their error than the "lower class" Christian who IS faithful to Christ but has zero benefit to any of these men for advancement and power) is costly.

It seems to me that this is setting up Evangelical leaders and churches to turn in Christians who in their minds are poor employees, rebels who won't "surrender" to the changing and wicked dictates and the corresponding philosophies that drive them, of the world. They surrender so that they can keep their tax exemption (love of money), accreditation (applause and approval of the world), and avoid persecution. That never worked out well for Israel when she set up alliances and allegiances with Egypt for protection (Is. 30).

Pro 29:25  The fear of man brings a snare, But he who trusts in the LORD will be exalted.

Dan 2:21  He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings;

Isa 30:1  "Ah, stubborn children," declares the LORD, "who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin; :2  who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt! 

Psa 20:7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

2Co 6:14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

2Co 6:15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?

2Co 6:16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, "I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Isa 31:1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the LORD! 2 And yet he is wise and brings disaster; he does not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers and against the helpers of those who work iniquity.

Prov.16: ⁸  Better is a little with righteousness, Than vast revenues without justice.

Truth is simple. Scripture tells us to what and how we're to submit to the authorities God has established for us (not ones made up by the whim of man). It tells us how to practice sound doctrine in a corrupt world. We don't need hypocrites telling us their version of authority (lo and behold, they want to be part of that authority) and demand we surrender to them. Integrity and submission must be to King Jesus first and foremost.