LIBERAL THEOLOGY SUBVERTED THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION – THE PURITY OF DOCTRINES IS AT RISK IN THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTIONS. SATAN is usurping control over the MODERN THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION, AND THEREBY CONTROLLING THE LEADERS OF THE CHURCH. Those WHO GO TO STUDY THE BIBLE COME OUT with weaker faith or no faith or most often with ANTI-CHRISTIAN ATTITUDES. By influencing the thinking patterns and doctrines of the leaders and teachers in various ways the devil has succeeded in conquering the large sections of the institutionalized Church set up today. To conquer the country, conquer the army first and make use of the army to defeat the people. This is the subtle strategy the devil is using against the Church. SHEPHERDS ARE KILLING AND EATING THE SHEEP. Those who are supposed to be the shepherds are becoming the enemy and is killing the sheep. The believers are in great danger of being misled by the leaders and modern day theological teachers. Beware. The priestly class, theologians and the theologically educated and the leaders of the institutional Church are TURNING AGAINST JESUS CHRIST IN THEIR THEOLOGY, CHARACTER, LIFE STYLE AND ACTION PLAN. Beware lest you be deceived. Churches turn against Jesus! Jesus comes under fire. Here is an attempt to expose the character of the FALSE “CHURCH” OPERATING WITHIN THE CHURCH.  It is shocking revelation exposing some of the most anti-Christian aspects of modern theological enterprise.

ATHEISM AND HUMANISM DOMINATES LIBERAL THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION SYSTEM. ANTI-GOD SECULAR AGENDA IS RULING MODERN THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. Postmodernism promotes ANTICHRISTIAN VIEWS which accelerate the advancement of satanic plans. The POSTMODERN DECONSTRUCTION is aimed at subtly undoing the truths. This agenda is WORKED OUT IN THE ARENA OF THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION THROUGH MODERN THEOLOGY. Indeed, life without God has no purpose, stability or order. Human life and the rights of freedom fade into meaningless jargon without the solid foundation of biblical morality. Humanism seeks to fulfill the desires of the beast by killing morality. The influence of secular humanism can readily be seen in the religious fields as well. Belief in the miracles of the Bible was ridiculed as superstition. Evolution rapidly became championed by religious leaders as they endeavored to step into the mainstream of philosophical thought. Religious institutions became little more than social clubs even being fully equipped with the latest recreational equipment. Doctrinal focus died out. Easy unity efforts were emphasized. They secularized their theology. Theology died out, not God. Theologians were converted into atheism.

DEMONIC REBELLION IN THE NAME OF THEOLOGY. The false theologies are engineered by Bultmann, Tillich etc. They ELIMINATED ALL METAPHYSICAL ELEMENTS OF BIBLE AND THEOLOGY. Thus, their theology is nothing but EXISTENTIAL HUMANISM WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF A REVOLUTIONARY PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY. To them God is just an existential response of man from the centre of his life. They believe that all will be saved with the help of the ANONYMOUS CHRIST who is present in all religions, ideologies and revolutionary movements. Hence they deny the existence of hell. The historical person of Jesus Christ is reduced to an abstract Christ-event. New birth to them is the decision of the individual to dedicate to the service of the society. Since they do NOT RECOGNIZE THE AUTHORITY OF THE SCRIPTURE, THEY HAVE A DIFFERENT CHRIST, DIFFERENT GOSPEL AND DIFFERENT ESCHATOLOGY. They learn the wrong things and teach the students wrong things. But they maintain an aura of pseudo-academic scholarship. They addict the Christians with the urgency for social action and preoccupy them with the issue of social justice to systematically SIDETRACK THEM FROM THE URGENCY OF EVANGELISTIC MISSION OF THE CHURCH. This Christ-less secular humanization efforts and social action will culminate in the near-paradise HUMANIZATION PROGRAM HEADED BY ANTICHRIST, which would eventually lead to dehumanization and bloodshed at the end of history. Students are deviated from their former religious outlook to a more utopian and ‘scientific’ outlook. Then they also work as ministers to capture the machinery of the church and convert it into a machinery of social change. They converted churches and seminaries into structures for secular social change. Degeneration in modern theology caused bishops and priests to agree with and even write hymns to their idol gods in the name of religious appeasement, ecumenism etc. which their predecessors would not have done. Such persons have no right to claim to be Christians or enjoy any privileges of Christian labeled institutions.

WAS JUDAS BETTER THAN LIBERALS? Not many of them are bright according to the standards of the world. But they want to be recognized by the world as great at the cost of Christ. Many are opportunistic looking professional scope and popularity. For them it has become fashionable to criticize the Lord and the Bible. When they speak against God they become accepted in the sight of the world. This is because this world is basically anti-God and appreciates only the anti-God ideas. This was the METHODOLOGY OF JUDAS. They deny Christ to become rich and famous. But to be worse than Judas, they neither return the coins nor acknowledge their mistake as Judas did.

TO CONQUER A NATION  DEFEAT THE ARMY FIRST. To conquer the country, conquer the army first and make use of the army to defeat the people. This is the subtle strategy the devil is using against the Church. SATAN is usurping control over the MODERN THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION, AND THEREBY CONTROLLING THE LEADERS OF THE CHURCH. Those who go to study the bible come out with weaker faith, or no faith, or sometimes with anti-Christian attitudes. By influencing the thinking patterns and doctrines of the leaders and teachers in various ways the devil has succeeded in conquering the large sections of the institutionalized Church set up today. This pseudo branch of biblical interpretation developed a missionary like zeal to endarken the entire church. Churches were forced to change in accordance with the new pseudo-scientific theology. They aim at infiltrating the churches with ultra-modernist theology by influencing the thinking patterns of key individuals. They broadcast their hollow ideas through liberal theological institutions, seminars and lectures, brainwash the participants and transform them. When the participants go back to their congregations they reproduce and multiply the DEVIOUS ECUMENICAL THEORIES. They infect the people with their own devious imaginations. The liberal theologians and teachers trained in liberal theological institutions consciously or unconsciously inject the poison of FALSE TEACHING INTO THE STUDENTS (and the students rarely realize it). They strictly warn the students against reading evangelical authors. The mainline churches are being silently and subtly devoured by liberal theological perspectives. Thus, they have become cold and even ANTAGONISTIC TO EVANGELISM. Once the major denominations are felled, smaller ones will automatically fall in line.

CONVERTING DISCIPLES INTO ENEMIES OF CHRIST WITHIN CHURCH.SHEPHERDS ARE KILLING THE SHEEP. Those who are supposed to be the shepherds are becoming the enemy and are killing the sheep. The believers are in great danger of being misled by the leaders and modern day theological teachers. Beware. The priestly class, theologians and the theologically educated and the leaders of the institutional Church are TURNING AGAINST JESUS CHRIST IN THEIR THEOLOGY, CHARACTER, LIFESTYLE AND ACTION PLAN. Beware lest you be deceived. Churches turn against Jesus! Jesus comes under fire. Those who go to Bible colleges with the intention of gaining adequate training for better serving the church, are GRADUATED AS SKEPTICS WHO DOUBT THE VALIDITY OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. Gradually they give up their faith and become apostates. Thus instead of strengthening their faith and enabling them to defend their faith, the modern theological education produces skeptics out of students who are trained to shy away from the faith, try to DEFEAT THE WORD OF GOD AND CHALLENGE THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. Thus the modern theological education which has deviated from the primary task of evangelism, and has of late emerged as the single greatest threat to the Christian faith.

These apostates do not leave the Church but capture the control of the church. But instead of leaving the church and taking up some other profession, as they do not believe in what Christians believe, they hypocritically remain in the church and spread the false teachings in the church. They even capture top administrative positions of the church and thus cause maximum damage to the church. Thus those who come to serve god are brainwashed and made ineffective and become CARRIERS OF THE VIRUSES OF FALSE TEACHINGS. Morality and values, both in theory and practice are diminishing. Students come to the seminaries to study theology and serve Christ. But gradually they are recruited by devil and start working for devil. But they think they are great academics and are doing well for God. The fact is that they are serving Satan.

LIBERAL THEOLOGY PRODUCED MINISTERS AND LEADERS WITHOUT FAITH AND CHARACTER. Academic excellence preferred over character. Study of theology is not possible without Christian character. Methods are preferred over message. Those who do not believe in the deity of Christ and authority of the Bible have NO RIGHT TO CALL THEMSELVES CHRISTIAN and much less to be involved in anything called Christian ministry.

SUBVERSION BY ANTI-GOD IDEOLOGIES OF TEACHERS, SYLLABUS AND DEGREES.SUBVERSION BY BIASED TEACHERS. Teachers in many liberal theological institutions are disciples and fans of mere liberal theologians and philosophers. Very few of them are Christians who believe in Bible and Jesus Christ. To understand the nature and character of the theological institution, one can easily look into the academic credential of the faculty in the institution. Most of them with rare exception will be specialists in the philosophy of some theologians, or schools of philosophy such as Advaita, or feminism, or environmentalism or ecology. They will be training the students for Christian ministry. One needs not be a genius to know why the church is devastated by the incapacity and incompatibility of the theological graduates. They are ill-equipped to deal with the burning issues of the church people. Very few graduates would believe in the basic doctrines of the Bible. The liberal theologians and teachers trained in liberal theological institutions consciously or unconsciously inject the poison of false teaching into the students. They learn the wrong things and teach the students wrong things. The students consume the untruth thinking that it is the truth. The secular psychological views are systematically propagated among theological students. They are systematically kept aloof from the Christian values and truth, by giving least importance to the Bible doctrines. Being confronted with false teaching and unable to defend their own right convictions against the false liberal views, eventually they succumb to liberal perspectives. Gradually they find it more and more CONVENIENT, EXPEDIENT AND OPPORTUNISTIC to defend the evil liberal views, than defending the truth in the Bible.

They try to SUBVERT THE EVANGELICAL AND MISSIONARY CHURCHES AND INSTITUTIONS through infiltrating and posting their own trained teachers, pastors and administrators and thus gradually convert those churches and institutions into pseudo Christian agencies through their ideological indoctrination and administrative decisions. They reeducate churchmen and prepare them for their activities in the society. The proponents of modern theology attempt to subvert the Biblically and evangelically oriented churches and institutions through infiltrating and posting their own “trained” teachers, pastors and administrators. They secretly spread false teachings (2Pet 2:1). Through this mechanism the Church is being taken over by the world. Thus though physically intact, the SPIRITUAL IDENTITY OF THE CHURCH IS GRADUALLY ERODED. Those who worship the worldly things and love recognition from the world more than they love the Lord Jesus Christ are gaining foothold in the church and are becoming strongly entrenched in the life of the church. Thus the church is swallowed with worldly concerns. You may be a theologian or a scholar, but if your conclusions go wrong, there is no gain. It is like gaining the whole world and losing the soul. It is indeed a deadly game.

LIBERAL THEOLOGY IS PROMOTED BY THE MAINLINE LIBERAL THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTIONS. Modern Liberal Theology is the enemy of Real Christian Theology. The FIRST PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN FAITH ARE ATTACKED by the modern liberal theology. Thus modern liberal theology is the enemy of real theology. This enemy of real theology is now PROMOTED BY THE MODERN THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION SET UP, as the real theology. By discerning the false teachings of modern liberal theology we can understand the steady process of theological subversion that is going on these days.

DANGER OF DENOMINATIONAL IDEOLOGICAL BIAS IN THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. Sometimes the theological Education by the church or seminary has the potential of being spiritually dangerous because it tends to lock a person into the particular theological belief system taught by the seminary. The person’s theology becomes the filter through which Scripture is judged and interpreted, rather than searching the Scriptures to determine the truth, and then patterning one’s belief to follow Scripture. Educated people tend to filter what they believe to be truth based on what they know and their own opinions rather than going to the Scriptures to see if it is true or not. They will tend to believe error to be truth until the day they die, and never check it out in Scripture because they trust those with a PhD who taught them. Many false teachings are being taught as truth by those who were highly educated. They were merely repeating what they had read or heard from others who were also highly educated and they did not research the matter for themselves. Colossians 2:8 - Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Philosophy, theology, denominational doctrines, doctrines named after men (Calvinism, Arminianism, etc.), systems of thought or belief, all follow after the tradition of men and are taught in seminary education. God warns us here that a person must be careful that his ministry for Christ is not spoiled by education. It’s important that we don’t accept something just because that’s the way the church has always done it. James 2:1-4 My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

SUBVERSION BY BIASED ANTI-BIBLE SYLLABUS.ONE-SIDED BIASED ANTI-BIBLE ORIENTATION OF SYLLABUS IN THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTIONS CAUSES STUDENTS TO LOSE THEIR FAITH. Students are exposed to books which question the truth of God. Many so-called modern theological institutions have effectually succumbed to devil by teaching their students ANTI-GOD THEOLOGY. The whole area of academic scholarship which defends the Biblical truth is often not introduced to the students. Hence the students feed on and GROW UPON FALSE INFORMATION AND WRONG SUGGESTIONS. As a result the students and believers become skeptics. They LEARN TO DOUBT THE WORD OF GOD. They study things which hinder them from approaching God’s word in the way God wants. They often study what anti-God men thought about God, not what God wants you to know about GOD. When these people reach the theological institutions, they are brainwashed by imparting a specially preplanned training program in accordance with a biased syllabus. The students are deviated from important issues. They are made to study either unimportant or wrong issues. The end result is that THOSE WHO WANTED TO BE FOLLOWERS OF JESUS CHRIST ARE TRANSFORMED INTO INDIFFERENT SPECTATORS AND ENEMIES OF THE CROSS OF CHRIST, (antichrists - 1Jn 2:22) as a result of the theological education. For devil this is a significant achievement. Thus students gradually lose their former spiritual outlook to a more utopian and ‘scientific’ outlook. They begin to work as ministers to capture the machinery of the church and convert it into a machinery of social change. Thus gradually churches and seminaries become structures for anti-Christ attitude and teachings in accordance with the new false scientific theology.

IMBALANCED ARRANGEMENT OF SUBJECTS IN THE SYLLABUS – MINORING THE MAJORS AND MAJORING THE MINORS. KEY SUBJECTS ARE EITHER NEGLECTED OR ABOLISHED OR PERVERTED. The students unknowingly study unnecessary subjects. For example if some persons come to study medicine, but study chemistry and claim that they are medical experts, then they will end up killing patients. But some deceivers have succeeded in falsely convincing them that chemistry is medical science. THIS IS SUBVERSION FROM WITHIN. Fish curry must have more fish. If you put more meat into it, it becomes meat curry. IF YOU TEACH SOCIOLOGY IN THE NAME OF THEOLOGY, GRADUATES WILL BE SOCIOLOGISTS, NOT THEOLOGIANS. Similarly today in some cases many students of theology study many other subjects in the seminaries, without even knowing what theology is. Then they go on defending the views they are infused with. If you are taught that 2+2 = 5, and then if someone tells you 2+2=4, you will laugh to scorn him, even if you are wrong, thinking that you are right, and the other one is a fool. Today many theologians are victims of this same fallacy instigated by devil. They give overall social awareness but that is inadequate for ministry. Those who study such things become at the most social workers not Christian ministers. But they enter into the church as ministers. MINISTERS MUST HAVE DIFFERENT KNOWLEDGE BASE. They are not given deep spiritual insight and deep Biblical knowledge in doctrinal issues, challenges to faith, cults, demonic strategies etc. In short they are squarely ill-equipped for spiritual ministry.

Much of the seminary curriculum is now no longer centered on systematic theology, doctrinal and exegetical studies, but is geared toward making church leaders into business marketing wizards, administrative professionals, and virtual psychologists, instead of shepherds of the sheep. Some institutions give thorough courses on doctrine and on the general contents of the Bible. But they ignore vital subjects as New Testament church order, the gifts of the Spirit, faith, prayer and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The students take numerous classes on subjects like Greek philosophy and culture, feminism, ecology, environment, etc which will not do much to promote a godly character. Are they really necessary for pastors? Are such studies helping to promote godliness and maturity in character, or mere deviated academic intellectualism? Are they truly helpful to the pastor who must deal with sin, marital problems, and a host of societal ills among the members of his congregation? Such graduates will be cold or indifferent towards the needs of the people they shepherd.

Being unduly entangled in academic life can weaken our real practical spiritual life. Education without life is dangerous. Academics can lose the reality of God in their life. They SPEND TIME WITH BOOKS, NOT WITH THE LORD. They read books about the Bible but not the Bible. Even if they read the Bible they are doing it to find fault with the Bible. Instead of examining their lives in the light of the Bible and identifying their own faults they try to FIND FAULT WITH GOD AND BIBLE. Thus they turn the blessing into a curse. Instead of propagating the views of God, they propagate their own views and what suits their ideological interests. Basic Reasons for the Error could be PRIDE, UNBELIEF AND GREED. Head and heart must work harmoniously. Many know about Christ, but Christ is not in their hearts. The most ideal state for man is to BECOME LIKE CHRIST FIRST.

The LARGE SCALE APOSTASY began when modernism started infiltrating into bible seminaries, and challenging the beliefs of Christians in subtle ways. The proponents of modern liberal theology developed a missionary like zeal to re-educate the entire church. They spread the octopus-like tentacles of their false teachings through the liberal theological institutions which inject the poison of false teachings into the students. The influence of modern liberal theology is infecting the people through those students of theology who are the products of liberal seminaries, Bible colleges, and theological training institutions. The quality of the graduates makes one to think whether the theological institutions are often times becoming institutes for brainwashing and spiritual sabotage, and thereby becoming an industry for producing apostates. Any way a top class spiritual warfare is going on in the theological institutes. Students who go for theological education even with a strong conviction and faith, fall prey to the onslaught of the largely unbiblical liberal theological indoctrination.

GREED FOR ACADEMIC DEGREES AND PRIDE GO TOGETHER. Qualification for pastors and ministers are redefined with degrees. The qualifications for elders listed in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:6-9. Such descriptions are far from the seminary scholar that we usually envision. The contemporary Christianity has "professionalized" pastoral ministry and practically deified academic degrees. In our obsession with formal degrees, Some of the greatest saints in church history were men without a college or seminary education, including most of the apostles (Acts 4:13). The church is looking for better methods, while God is looking for better men. Manny seminaries are seeking academic respectability from the world’s educational institutions. Their goal appears to be one of showing to the world that we can be just as "scholarly" and "intellectual" as they. Rather than seeking academic respectability, our seminaries should pursue academic responsibility and commitment to teaching Scripture, as opposed to instruction mixed with elements of both Scripture and psychology, or Scripture and business marketing principles, or whatever popular humanistic ideas catch the fancy of modern Christians.

Modern liberal theology attempts to spoil the church from within by ideological enslavement of many students of theology. Students eat it due to lack of discernment. They often think that if they maintain the liberal views others will consider them as scholarly and academic. They also look for popularity and monetary benefits by betraying the truth. They subvert the MISSIONARY PASSION of the student by deviating it to academic excellence. ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE is the hook here to kill the missionary commitment of the candidates. The missionary zeal is now exhausted in studies. Thus the missionary minded person goes for missiology studies and ends up in research and not in missions. Are they using knowledge to kill the truth? THEY PROMOTE THE FALSE IDEA OF THE INEVITABILITY OF THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION FOR EFFECTIVE MINISTRY. In this way they attract all those who are interested in ministry to theological institutions. Christ sends us just as the Father sent him, not with degrees and certificates. If you have faith, you don’t need degrees for Christ’s ministry. If you don’t have faith, then you fill the gap with the degrees to strengthen you, to get more confidence. It is using the worldly principles for God’s ministry, it is conforming to the ways of the world.

COMMERCIALIZATION OF DEGREES AND THE RECOGNITION MANIA IN MODERN THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION. Theological education has degenerated to be a means for collecting a degree on the basis of which they claim recognition and infallibility, for whatever they speak or write. Thus many people have given themselves away to the DEMONS OF RECOGNITION, FAME AND PRESTIGE. Many are in pursuit of cornering recognition and glory for themselves. They are addicted to anything that fetches them the illusory tag called “recognition”. They are ready to betray Christ for the sake of worldly recognition. Degrees have become a substitute for relationship with Christ. The widespread trend of attempting to substitute relationship with Christ, with “recognized” theological degrees from “recognized institutions”, has become a great threat to Church. Those who are behind this conspiracy artificially develop a “recognition mania” both among the candidates and the institutions. Hence only those who graduate from the “recognized theological institutions” will be “recognized” by the churches and institutions, and hence considered as eligible to be pastors or to fill vacancies in the various church institutions. To them it is not the faith content of the candidates which carries the weightage, but only the degree certificates. The FASCINATION FOR THE “RECOGNISED DEGREES” often tempts the candidates to go for it even at the expense of disregarding their faith. It only validates the truth in the Word of God which says, “the love of the Father is not in them that love the world”, and that the dog has turned to its own vomit.

There is an ELEMENT OF THE WORLD behind the degrees. Degrees are to receive honor from man. It is searching for recognition from the world. Trust is in the flesh. They begin in spirit and end in flesh. The Degree Mania produces proud and arrogant people. They think, I am so and so a degree holder, and therefore what I say is right. Thus the theological institutions are often actually MANUFACTURING PEOPLE WITH EGOTISM AND PRIDE, even though the leaders think they are training people for God’s service. After getting some degrees they look down the ones who have no degrees. By giving degrees CREDIBILITY IS SOLD for personal advantage. Students prefer a degree which is said to have a greater acceptability. Today theological education sometimes becomes very expensive, that is, more than secular education. But Jesus did not charge any fees. It is doubtful whether Jesus Himself will get admission in today’s Bible their colleges. The fact is that Degrees are not essential for Christian ministry. Christian ministry is primarily the work of Christ, not of man. Christ does not need our help with big theological degrees. He said, I will build my church. Obedience is better than sacrifice. If the Lord does not build the house the work of the laborers is useless. Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is the Lord. Christ is the builder, chief shepherd and judge.

DEGREES MAY PROMOTE PRIDE. The word “Minister” means a servant or an attendant. College and seminary education and degrees normally do not help a pastor to become humble as a little child. Neither can a man who is not humble himself help others to be humble so that they can enter the kingdom of heaven. A degree of higher education is a great hindrance to this command for a pastor to view himself as a servant. Church structure is opposite of business or government structure. A pastor must not do things to receive honor of others – special dress, special seat, parking, fancy or high pulpit, or honorary title or degree. All of those are contrary to the attributes of a servant.

God’s design of the church structure is one of equality rather than hierarchy. Brotherhood rather than master and servant or professor and student.Matthew 20:25-28 : But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you . but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. Matthew 23:8-12 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

Jesus commands that a pastor is not to use a title of honor. A person’s education must not be used in the church to elevate that individual above any other person. Everyone in the church are equals. Highly educated persons in the church are not be acknowledged as such in the church. It is not beneficial to them or the church. The relationship of pastor to the congregation is not father to sons, but as brothers. Mark 9:33-37 And he came to Capernaum: and being in the house he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way? But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest. And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all. And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them, Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me.

Mark 10:42-45 But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you, but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister; And whosoever of you will be the chiefest shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. We are not to pattern church leadership after the pattern of leadership in society. Jesus instructs us that leadership in His kingdom is different than leadership in government or society. The pastor’s focus must not be on greatness and leadership but on serving others. V.27 The pastor elevates others to greatness by serving them and showing them how to serve others. FOCUS SHOULD NOT BE BECOMING GREAT BY SERVING OTHERS.

BUT SOME PEOPLE WITHOUT DEGRESS ARE ALSO VERY PROUD. We cannot say that only academic degrees can cause pride. There are some who become proud because of their spiritual gifts, or success in ministry. Thus there are several reasons a person can become proud. There are also some persons who do not have anything of these, still they are proud.

FALSE EDUCATION SYSTEMATICALLY BLINDS PEOPLE. God is quite clear in many passages of Scripture, and through the example of Jesus, that higher education is not beneficial for pastors. A desire to learn does not mean that a person will eventually believe the truth. Those with corrupt minds will react to the truth and reject it. They want to learn the wrong thing and reject the truth. Subconsciously, the church has bought into the belief that the educated few hold the key to understanding the deeper things of Scripture and that Christians need to look to the educated, who are mere men, for answers to the difficult questions and for spiritual understanding of the mysteries of Scripture. The closest example in Scripture to a college or seminary education is the Pharisee’s education system. The result of their education system is pretty clear. They could not even recognize God when He came to them in person (Jesus). They really believed that they loved God, but in actuality they hated God (Jesus) because God did not fit the theology they had been taught in their schools. They refused to believe the truth. They went to Hell, because their education was a stumbling block. They were proud, arrogant, hypocritical, and looked for the approval and honor of men.

God intentionally hid spiritual understanding from them. “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” (Matthew 11:25) The Pharisees education system was a failed education system and yet the church’s seminary education system is very similar to it. The Pharisees were highly educated in the Old Testament in the educational system of their day. But God hid spiritual understanding from them and revealed it to uneducated men. Note what Jesus said, that God knew that this was best to hide true spiritual understanding from the educated! In Matthew 13 Jesus further stated that the Pharisees, despite their high level of education in the Bible had nothing and further understanding of the mysteries of spiritual understanding would be hid from them on purpose by Jesus Himself! Since God chose to hide true spiritual understanding from the educated, why do pastors seek to be highly educated? If we took Matthew 13:12 “For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.”