BBB:Phinehas And Them

   Here is, another excellent but very short commentary on leadership
and apostasy. The message is quite timely because we have lived to see
in our generation, many of the so-called "independents" develop into
huge pieces of denominational machinery, which match, line for line,
precept for precept, the structure of the Southern Baptist Convention,
and the Northern Baptist Convention.

   by Herb Evans

   "....the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of
Moab...And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor...And the LORD said unto
Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the
LORD...And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his
men that were joined unto Baalpeor. And, behold, one of the children of
Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the
sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation...And when
Phinehas...saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a
javelin in his hand; And he went after the man of Israel into the tent,
and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman
through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of
Israel. " Numbers 25:1-8

   The blame for every apostasy, without qualification and without
exception, must be laid at the feet of leadership. Either the
leadership involves itself directly with the apostasy or it allows it
to happen without raising a voice. Yes, preachers, evangelists, elders,
officers of conventions, associations, and fellowships are the culprits.

   Much of the propaganda, which has been sown by the more liberal and
compromising brethren, is nothing more than aiding and abetting
apostasy, i.e. "We must hang together, or we will hang separately," and
"We must not shoot our own wounded." Personally, we would much rather
not hang at all. If there is to be a lynching, we prefer to do the
hanging rather than be hanged.

   Let it be noted that the above passage concerns itself with brethren
in the same camp! Poor Moses and the judges (the leadership) were
dumbfounded when one of the brethren, Zimri, a son of a "fellowship"
prince, no less, blatantly and arrogantly and disrespectfully and
contemptibly and publicly ignored and shamed the Lord and His
congregation. Oh yes, Moses had his meeting with the judges and passed
the buck, commanding them to slay those who had joined to Baalpeor;
however, it was Moses who was supposed to hang all the heads of the
offenders (25:4).

   Well, after Moses' and the judges' stalls and dialogues, this dandy,
knowing that he was a denominational prince's son with a lot of
political pull, knowing that he would be recommended to some out-of-
the-way church until the heat was off, marched right past them and did
his thing. It was too much for Phinehas, an ordinary layman. He didn't
shoot a wounded brother; he took the first shot, being careful not to
wound him, and eliminated him completely. Phinehas didn't have to hang
together or separately.

   Did Moses and the judges get the credit for staying the plague? No
way! God said, "Phinehas...hath turned my wrath recorded that Phinehas
and Israel...he was zealous for my sake..." (Num. 25:11). While they
talked, he acted. Later, it is recorded that Phineas and "them" took
care of the Midianites and Brother Baalam with the sword (Num. 31:6-8).

   If preachers and evangelists and denominational editors won't take
care of the problem, we need more laymen like Phinehas to build a fire
under a leadership that pretends to be independent but rather entangles
itself in denominational red tape.