This text [Mt 18:20] has nothing to say about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in every believer [although that is a fact] but it does speak of the Spirit’s corporate in-dwelling because Christ promises to be there, by His Spirit. What is here being discussed is the corporate meeting of a number of disciples in gospel order, who meet in Christ’s name and under His authority. And it is the presence of Christ Himself that is desired by them and here promised and the place of His presence is specific, not general. He will be in the midst of them, that is, in the assembly—and this makes them a church in reality. This is a special blessing given to each assembly of His. Nor are we to think that this text refers to the random meeting of two or three disciples, for Christ has never promised to be in the midst of them in this sense. There is a difference between with and in the midst of. He is with every believer, always and to the end of the world, [He 13:5]. But this presence in the text is not that common gift to all believers, (for why then would He mention it) but to a special and distinct presence in the midst of those who are subject to Him in all essential commands and  desire voluntarily to compose a church and it is that midst which is spoken of in Re 1:13; 2:1 "And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle."

As the Lord was in the midst of the bush, He is in the midst of His assemblies, Exod 3:2 “And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.”

It was from the midst of the cloud that God called to Moses: Ex 24:16

It was in the midst of the tabernacle that cheribum wing touched wing, I King 6:27.

It was in the midst of Zion that the Lord promised to dwell, Zech 2:10

It is in the midst of Jerusalem where the Lord will dwell in a future time, Zech 8:3

After His resurrection He physically appeared in the midst of them just as He Spiritually meets in the midst of every one of His churches: Luke 24:36

It was in the midst of the church He promised to meet and did meet, Heb 2:12

As Christ was seen to be in the midst of the throne of God, so He is in the midst of his churches: Rev 5:6

“And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.”

Nor should anyone object and say because the word church is not here expressly used, that this passage is not speaking of the church. Scripture often refers to the NT Assembly where the word church is not used. Take for example, the text-word gather together [synago]. It is also used in Acts 4:31:

This refers to the church just as does the word own company [idois] in Acts 4:23. Again in Acts 15:6 this same word is used as it is in 15:30, which all refer to the meetings of a church, though ekkleesia is not specifically mentioned. It is a compound form of this very word [episunagoge, epi +synago], translated assembling which is used in He 10:25 rebuking those who were absent from the meeting of the church, but the word church is not found. Also to come together [sunerchomai], is sometimes used of the gathering of the church, Cf. I Cor 11:17-18, 33-34; 14:23, 26. 1 Pe 2:5,9, refers to church members and the church but the word is not used. We can be certain, then, that the word church is not necessarily used at all times when an assembly of Christ meets together. This is the case in Mt 18:20.

Furthermore it is most important for us to understand this little meeting here so patiently described by our Lord himself [Mt 18:20] manifests a large degree of faith on their part to accept His Word on such an important matter as the constitution of a church. It therefore brings Him much honor when they bow to His simple teaching on this subject. He does not despise the day of small things and His disciples’ faith is His Word for their beginning as a church and for their preservation to the end. They are, therefore, to put no stock in any church or any man, yea, in no group of men, nor are they to seek authority from them. It is idolatry to look to any historical record of church-to-church succession as drawn up and circulated by some churches. Rather, these disciples beseech the throne of grace and walk by faith into this meeting, recognizing the word of their Lord who called them and follow His will in constituting a church, “For we walk by faith, not by sight”, [2 Cor 5:7]. On the other hand, when anyone insists upon an authority which is not stated in the Word of God they are pushing a perishable doctrine, “(Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men” [Col 2:22]. These stones have man-made-marks and consequently they are polluted, [Exod 20:25] “Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”[Mark 7:7].

Lest the reader think these are novel views I will give a few quotes.

Yet this is not all. This gathering together is essentially a covenantal meeting and this is the way Baptists have organized churches from the beginning.

What is a church of Jesus Christ?

We can see this over and over in our history. Baptists believed and still believe that we covenant together to form a church and this is the essential doctrine of church constitution as taught by Mt 18:20 and supported by other passages and demonstrated by Baptist History. Baptist usage proves this is how our people always constituted churches! The church covenant of the church in Horse Fair, Stony Bucks, England, in 1790 reads as follows:

You find the same thing stated in our own church covenant, which is found in Pendleton’s Manual. I never saw a church covenant that did not, in essence, state this same thing. Thus every time the authority brethren read their church covenant, it warns them they are holding a tradition in the constitution of churches which they cannot sustain by Scripture, History, confession or covenant! Instead of Scripture support, they bring in a late tradition.

My brother, in his article does to church authority what the religious world does to the church— they both press for universality! Most denominations elevate the church from its Scriptural plane of locality to a universal church which includes all the saved of the world. The authority brethren do precisely the same thing with church authority. They elevate it to the plane where it covers everything and anything. Church authority is universal and there is nothing that they cannot sweep under this rug. This is the old error of Catholicism dug up again. The Catholics teach that everything comes through the church because the church has universal authority. In their view the church controls the calling of grace in salvation, it controls the calling to the ministry, it controls governments, setting up and deposing kings because they maintain the authority was given to the church. They even pretend they control those who are dead, releasing from or retaining in Purgatory because the authority belongs to the church.

This is wrong. Why? Because only some authority was given to the church, not all authority!

My brother says in The Voice, “It is mind boggling to me that the Lord would give only His church authority over the observance of the Lord’s Supper, and over the administration of baptism, and over discipline in the church, and even over the choosing of the seven deacons, and yet he would leave the organization of the church itself up to the whims of a few men without any church involvement.” [p. 67].

The problem is in the mind of my brother.

Let me point out what every one of the authority brethren must admit.

Take for example the salvation of the lost.

Salvation is not under church authority, [Acts 11:12-18]. Salvation is under the sovereign discretion of God the Holy Spirit, [Jn 3:8]. The Lord did not commit salvation to the church! [Acts 13:48]. It does not come through the church, [Acts 5:14], even though the gospel is committed to the church and the church proclaims the gospel, salvation does not depend on the church, [Acts 8:1-6]. If it did, no one outside a church could be saved! Thus the authority of the church is not universal.

Again take the call to the ministry.

The call to the ministry is not under church authority, but is a sovereign act of the Lord and the church has no authority over it. All the church does is to recognize what the Lord has done, [Acts 13:16]! What belongs to the church must be proclaimed and defended but it is a great error to say that because the Lord gave the great commission, baptism, the supper, and discipline (to name a few things) to the church, that the ministry, marriage, setting up kings and the constitution of churches and anything and everything else under Heaven belongs to the church. The authority that rests in a church is specific, not general, not universal. Only what is specifically designated as belonging to the church is in the hands of the church, “And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations,” [Re 2:26].

Again ordination belongs to the church where the candidate is a member.

No church can ordain a man who is not a member for that is something that only a church can do for itself. Churches may assist in these services but they have no authority in the act itself. They cannot ordain a deacon, pastor or missionary for another church. These are acts that only those who compose the church can carry out. It is the same in the constitution of churches. Other churches may attend. They may assist. They may recommend. They may take part in the services but cannot constitute the new group a church.

This matter is essential to Baptists polity. No church has any authority outside of its own membership. The church cannot authorize a church constitution because the authority of the church does not extend beyond her own confines.

Get this straight and the authority theory dies on the vine.

These things were once clearly understood. They were taught, practiced and believed. Yet, in time, we have a doctrine, a landmark which cannot be found in history and certainly not in the Bible. This means some have removed an Old Landmark and have put in its place the authority theory! This is exactly how infant baptism came in. This is how sprinkling came in. This is how baptismal regeneration came in. This is how sacraments came in and this is how the authority theory came in. Someone put a false marker up and claimed it was an Old Landmark. Men followed this tradition and contended it was Scriptural. They contended it was in History. They contend it is what Landmark Baptists believe today. They call us Neo-Landmarkers, Apostate Landmarkers, and other such names. But when we go back to the Scriptures, Lo, it is not there! When we go to history, Lo, it is not there. When we ask these old Landmark leaders about this pseudo-landmark, they not only deny it but point us to the Christ-set, Bible-fixed, Spirit-taught Landmark, which accords with History and with the books and records of the Old Landmark leaders themselves and it is very simply this—churches are self-constituted! This is the original Landmark on this subject. What my brethren have done by their theory amounts to removing an old Landmark and trying to establish a pseudo landmark in its place. But as with all counterfeits, it cannot stand up when compared with the real thing.

Christ himself promises to be in the midst of every self-constituted church—when it is constituted in His Name! Whenever baptized believers purpose to follow the teachings of Christ and His Word and covenant together then you have a Scriptural assembly. Nothing else is. But when you go to another church and get out dusty old records and begin to look for mothers and grand mothers, and great, great, great grandmothers, then you have entered into the realm of traditionalism. This is not the method of true Landmark Baptists now and it never was, but it is a tradition put in the place of a doctrine. Christ calls us back to His Word, back to His teachings, back to the Old Landmarks which our fathers set.

This is the position of Landmark Baptists!

RETURN TO TOP

I consulted three of my favorite commentaries on this text and all of them point out that the expression “spiritual wickedness” can correctly be translated “wicked spirits.” One translation has it “the spiritual powers of evil.” Two have it, “the spiritual forces of evil.” Yet another says, “wicked spirits” in agreement with the commentators.

When Lucifer the archangel was cast out of heaven, he drew a third part of the angels with him. Peter makes reference to these fallen angels. 2 Peter 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.

Of this fall, Jesus said, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” Isaiah wrote of this fall. Isaiah 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

Any student of the Scriptures is aware that during the ministry of Christ there was much demon possession. The Lord and the Apostles often cast out these wicked spirits.

People whom the evil spirits possessed were sometimes driven to insanity. The possessed often harmed themselves and others. Mark 5:3-5 Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: 4 Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. 5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.

Most of our readers are probably familiar with the young woman in Philippi who was possessed by evil spirits. Acts 16:16-18 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: 17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. 18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.

Evil spirits are real and they are worshipped. In March last year when I preached at the church in Pa Tong Eh, a young married man presented himself for baptism. Later in the month we were there for a camp meeting (Bible conference) and he asked us to come to his house and pray and read Scripture because his wife worshipped evil spirits and he wanted us to drive them out of the house. It was after the evening service and dark. There is no electricity in Pa Tong Eh (we used generators for services) so the light was from candles and a flashlight. We simply read Scripture and prayed.

I cannot say how much of the worship of evil spirits is superstition and how much of it is real. I do know that these wicked spirits do exist and we all come in contact with them at times. I once visited a man in Alabama that I have not the slightest doubt was demon possessed. It was eerie just being in a room with him trying to witness to him.

Once, several years ago, I was preaching a series of sermons on Demonism and have no doubt that evil spirits tried to lead me away from that. One of the ways that demons tempt people is to get them into such things as ESP—Extra Sensory Perception. While I was preparing a message in which I was dealing with this, I thought to myself, “I need to call Bro. ___________ in Saint Louis.” The thought had hardly passed through my mind when the phone rang and it was the brother I had thought about needing to call. I paid little attention but the next day, I thought, “I need to call Bro. ___________ in Michigan.” About that time the phone rang and it was that Brother calling me. There was a real temptation to experiment and see if I could do it again but my study of demonic possession caused me to draw back from any experimentation.

Among the Hill Tribes of Thailand with whom we are working and among whom Bro. Anond Phoothaptim works, the worship of evil spirits is common. And, the leaders of those who worship them can cause a good deal of trouble in a village. On one occasion Bro. Anond went to a village to preach the gospel but was run out of the village and his life was threatened if he returned. As we drive through the jungle we often see small white flags on long bamboo poles. These white flags indicate that the house over which they fly is the home of a worshipper of evil spirits.

While the church at Pa Koe was building the building about which I wrote in the October GP&P they encountered some trouble from a worshipper of evil spirits. He tried to stop the work on the building by various means. But, the Lord intervened. The man took some medicine that was for a sick dog because it contained some drug on which he thought he could get high. It threw him into a fit of insanity and the Thai police came to the village to arrest him and ended up killing him. They arrested two of his cohorts and they were banished from the village. The opposition pretty much ended and the building was completed and dedicated in October, 2001.

When we negotiated for the land on which Bethel Baptist Church built their building, we wanted to buy all the way to the village street. But, we had to go about 40 feet back from the street because the man from whom we were buying the land had a spirit house located on the corner and he was afraid to disturb the spirit house and was fearful that if he sold us the land on which the house was located the evil spirits would do “bad things” to him and his family.

Spirit House

Spirit worshippers build or buy spirit houses such as the one the previous page (Click on Hyperlink to Spirit house). Some of them are very elaborate though this one is rather simple. They place little dishes on the porch and put little offerings of food in them. They also burn incense at times. They may also leave little bouquets of flowers for the enjoyment of the wicked spirits.

Na Loa Mai is a Li Su village located high in the mountainous jungle of Northern Thailand. When you enter this village evidences of spirit worship are very apparent. A major drug dealer also lives in this village in the only non-bamboo house there. He does homage to the evil spirits also.

But, in Na Loa Mai, there is a very dedicated group of Christians who, under the leadership of Bro. Anond, have constituted a church. As I have mentioned in other articles, the church at Pa Sak sends him out to work among the tribes as the Lord leads. I will, in some future issue, write about the church in Na Loa Mai.

The lady in the picture above is a Christian and member of the church in Na Loa Mai. Her father, who was a worshipper of evil spirits, recently died. He had a spirit house and this dear lady wanted it out of her house but she was afraid to touch it. Actually She asked Bro. Anond and Bro. Lee if they would be willing to remove the house. They took the house out to a place where all the neighbors could see what they were doing. There they broke it up and burned it in full-view of the neighbors. To those of you who read this, this may seem like a trivial thing. But, to those villagers who worship evil spirits, it is a powerful witness for our people there. It is also a powerful witness to the power of Christ over demon spirits. I thought it very commendable that, after the house was removed and broken up, that this dear Christian lady is right there helping Bro. Bill Lee and Bro. Anond burn the wood from which the house was built. I thought of Colossians 1:13 when I saw this picture. Colossians 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. God, in his marvelous grace, has reached into this jungle village in a pagan land and has translated this dear lady out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of his dear son. She is a trophy of sovereign saving grace. It truly blessed my heart to hear what happened and to see this picture.

MORE SPIRIT HOUSES DESTROYED IN CHIANG MAI

In Chiang Mai, which is the city where we stay while in Thailand, a couple asked if the group would come to their home and remove three spirit houses. The one in the picture above was made of concrete. It seems from the picture that Bro. Jackie Duplechain (far left) is keeping a safe distance.☺ Bro. Bill Lee and Bro. Tommy Lee are in the middle getting ready to carry out one of the wooden houses. The man and his wife are also in the picture, she on the left and he on the right.

The Brethren broke the concrete house up and hauled the rubble away. They also removed two houses made of wood and took them to a place and burned them.

ORNATE SPIRIT HOUSE

This spirit house which brethren Bill and Tommy Lee are carrying to the truck is more ornate than the one pictured first. It was apparently on a pedestal of some sort. Notice the little ladder that the spirits could use to climb up and down to enter and leave the house. I wish I were able to print this picture in color and full size so that you could see the decorative style of the house and the ornaments and figures on it. Folks, these are not dollhouses nor playhouses, they are houses at which evil spirits are worshipped.

These pictures will be posted on our WebSite. If you have Internet access and will go to this URL (<http://www.gpp-5grace.com/graceproclamator/gppindex.htm>) you can find a listing of the papers that are on the site. In the table near the top of the page, click on December, 2001, and it will take you to a link that will take you to the paper. There you will find links on which you can click to see these pictures in full color and size.

BURNING SPIRIT HOUSES

I ask you to pray that the word of God will continue to prevail in Thailand. Pray for Bro. Anond and the pastors of all the churches that they may be supplied their needs according to God’s riches in glory.

The Lord willing Bro. Bill Lee, Sis. Janice Lee, Sis. Ruth Camp and Bro. Wayne Camp will be going to Thailand March 4, 2002. We will once again be preaching in many of the villages and spending as much time as possible in teaching sessions with the pastors there. As on our previous trips, we will be carrying medicine to the various villages and treating all of those who have needs. We will also purchase both Lahu and Lisu Bibles to be distributed in Thailand and Burma. There is a great need to purchase land for churches and also to complete building projects that are now underway. Sis. Camp is raising money to buy each child in the children's center a new outfit of clothes. And as usual, many other unexpected needs will be found during this trip. The needs are always great and our resources are always limited. If you would like to help on this important mission trip it will be greatly appreciated.