Scripture does not reconcile local congregations to be the church God gave Paul the task to establish. I addressed this here, and in a series of letters that provide further explanation into the points, issues and concerns introduced in this first letter. In their original form, they could use some editing but the content is in tact. The rest will follow. It's a lot of work to look up the verses I reference, but worth it. I hope to know your thoughts and feel free to ask questions in a comment to further the learning of us all. (He does not address it in the Open Forum that evening, by the way, or at all.)
From "International Dept."
Sent Wednesday, May 3, 2006 5:05 pm
To Daniela D Boata <...@nyu.edu>
Subject Re: and again I say, Rejoice
Hello, Thank you for writing. I will give Mr. Camping a copy of your
very interesting e-mail. He may answer some of your comments at the
beginning of the Open Forum program. If you want a copy of any of the
books that Mr. Camping has written such as "Wheat and Tares," "End of
the Church Age and After" or "Time Has an End" please request them and
also send your mailing address. May the Lord bless you and your
family. In His service, Sheila
Daniela D Boata wrote:
> Dear brother Camping,
>
> You have invited listeners to your radio ministry to share their
> comments with you on your teaching of the gospel. I would like to
> respond to this call.
>
> I do agree with the method of interpretation you use to understand the
> gospel. You teach that the whole Bible is the gospel and that the
> method of interpretation is comparing scripture with scripture. You
> teach that the Bible is written in parabolic language. You teach there
> is a hidden spiritual meaning woven throughout the scriptures. We agree
> that only the believer can know this hidden meaning by the person of
> the Holy Spirit according to His divine will and purpose; it is not
> something learned through our own intelligence (Colossians 1:25-6). I
> also agree that the word of God spoken through his holy prophets
> applies today as it did in the day that it was written.
>
> Your understanding and teaching of true worship is absolutely true and
> according to scripture. You teach that true worship is to bow down
> before God and that it is between “me and God” and “not us and God”.
> You teach that fellowship is with our Lord as we pray and read his
> word. This also is true and I am glad you are teaching this. You may
> also add that we fellowship when we witness, for in this is our
> fellowship with the Lord most active. You may also add that a powerful
> and effective witness is someone who walks in the Spirit (Galatians
> 5:25) (I Corinthians 2:4-5, 4:17) (I John 5:6).
>
> We know that Paul was given the task to establish the church. How then
> can the church that God gave Paul the task to establish be a “local
> congregation” when Paul states in I Corinthians 15:9 that he persecuted
> the church of God? Consider also Romans 16:5.
>
> On this subject, I heard you teach on the Open Forum that the local
> congregation was a divinely appointed institution, because in the
> beginning of the “church age” the Bible was not available in written
> form (as it became over time) and many people were illiterate. This is
> COMPLETELY contrary to the gospel. The Bible is the gospel and the
> gospel is Jesus Christ whom we know through preaching and faith by the
> work of the Holy Spirit (John 16:13) (I Corinthians 1:21) (I
> Corinthians 2:10-12, 16) (Romans 10:17) (Romans 1:17). Let God be
> praised; for salvation does not depend upon literacy, or even physical
> print of the word. On the contrary this is how the gospel in the hands
> of carnally minded individuals has been thwarted over the centuries.
>
> I also heard you teach on the Open Forum that today there is nothing
> wrong if believers come together to fellowship but that they must be
> careful not to make any rules, not to form a group. Is not this
> precisely what the Lord declares (I Corinthians 1:10, 12-13, 15, 3:21-
> 3, 4:6-7, 15-6) (Galatians 5:5, 6:4) (II Corinthians 13:5) (Philippians
> 2:2, 12-3) (Acts 4:32) (John 17:23)? Since tares have existed at any
> time within local congregations, scripture does not reconcile local
> congregations as the divine institution God gave Paul the task to
> build. Christ is not divided (Mark 3:24-5).
>
> It cannot be said that “God is finished using the church as an external
> representation of the kingdom of God”, anymore than it can be said
> that “God is finished using the nation of Israel as an external
> representation of the kingdom of God”. You know that a person may be
> understood as a nation, a kingdom, a city, and a land. God on the
> contrary established the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel is the
> born again believer (Matthew 4:17) (I Corinthians 4:20). Jesus is
> Israel, the kingdom of God (Hosea 11:1, Jeremiah 1:6). We, in him, are
> in the kingdom and represent the kingdom. In other words we in him are
> in the person of God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and represent
> the person of God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Israel; holy
> land of God (I John 4:13). The believer always has been the divine
> institution, in conjunction with the Word of God, written in the heart
> (Jeremiah 31:33); that no flesh should glory in his presence (I
> Corinthians 1:29).
>
> God redeemed the land of Israel from being a physical land, that is,
> from death. This is two fold, in the sense of the physical land of the
> earth and in the sense of our physical nature, but one in the same
> thing, since both are of the earth. Paul explains this in I Corinthians
> 15:44-50. We know that God never intended that a man would live,
> through the work of obeying the law, which is through the power of the
> physical flesh, but through faith in Jesus Christ by his Holy Spirit
> (Romans 8:3-4). This is the gift of God. It is the very fruit of the
> work of God (Colossians 1:27), the miracle of the new creature (II
> Corinthians 5:17); Israel, born, of the Spirit of God. Therefore God
> did not “finish using the nation of Israel as an external
> representation of the kingdom of God”, but rather he established Israel
> in his image; a holy land, a holy person, in and by Christ Jesus
> (Romans 9:3-8).
>
> When we read a book such as Jeremiah, we must understand Israel, Judah,
> and Jerusalem in this context. It remains the believer and the
> unbeliever. Since most of the world has heard the word they have come
> under the law. We may also understand physical Israel, the unbeliever,
> to be Israel according to the flesh under the law, and physical Judah,
> who is under the word, as the Gentile unbeliever.
>
> In reference to the book of Jeremiah, and the major events of the
> captivity of Israel and Judah in Babylon, the destruction of Jerusalem
> and the temple, and the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem
> unto the Messiah the Prince (Daniel 9:25), here is something to
> consider. Jeremiah himself is a picture of Jesus. Jeremiah
> means “Yahweh uplifted”. Read Jeremiah and all of God’s word with this
> in mind, since the gospel is Christ and the whole Bible is the gospel;
> especially where God has written his name I AM.
>
> In examining the major historical events surrounding the captivity,
> destruction and restoration of Jerusalem, we see that the second time
> this particular pattern reoccurred was when Jesus was crucified. He is
> Israel, Judah, and Jerusalem, the physical Temple that was destroyed by
> the Babylonians. He is the spiritual Temple that Babylon did not
> destroy. When He was arrested in the garden of Gethsemane he said this
> is your hour (Luke 22:53). When He was before Pontus Pilate, he told
> him he had no power over him except that it was given to him (John
> 19:11). Jesus commands us to go into the world and preach the gospel to
> every creature (Mark 16:15) as Jeremiah prophesied to the inhabitants
> of Jerusalem to go into Babylon and plant gardens and be fruitful
> (Jeremiah 29:5-6). The captivity would be long but the Lord would
> surely perform his good word (Jeremiah 29:10). We know that to preach
> the gospel is to be fruitful; to plant gardens and multiply. (I
> Corinthians 3:6-7). All those who do not obey the word of God, that is,
> who do not believe the gospel (I John 5:3), and do not obey the command
> to go into “Babylon and plant gardens and be fruitful” are in danger of
> the wrath of God (Romans 1:18) (Matthew 3:10) (Romans 11:21) (I Timothy
> 2:15). We know that God destroyed Babylon (Jeremiah 51) and will
> destroy Babylon (I Corinthians 15:51-54).
>
> The Holy Spirit abandoned the church when he was given into the hand of
> Babylon. The church was the disciples, the believers. The time right
> before this was a period of great tribulation, as Jesus was faced with
> the task of obeying the voice of God unto death. Judah went into
> captivity, the Temple was destroyed, and the Temple became restored and
> built. He IS with us unto the end of the world (Matthew 28:20) as we
> together with God the Holy Spirit build his Temple (I Corinthians 3:9).
>
> Signs and wonders do accompany salvation (Daniel 6:27). The miracle of
> being born of the Spirit of God is wondrous (I Corinthians 4:20) (Luke
> 4:14) (Luke 24:29) (Ephesians 1:19) (Acts 4:33). A tongue that blesses
> the Lord, at the moment of salvation, and begins to speak in his name
> as a new born child of God, which belongs to a mouth that used to be
> full of bitterness and cursing (Psalm 10:7) is a new tongue and a
> wondrous sign (Mark 16:17-8). There are signs and wonders belong to the
> person born of the Spirit of God, that glorify God, that we must
> recognize as true, rejoice in, and nurture; not condemn. And yet the
> greatest sign and wonder that glorifies and testifies of God is when we
> love one another. It is the power of God (Galatians 5:6) (John 13:35,
> 15:17).
>
> Many people have been fascinated with the subject of the end of the
> world. But this is not the gospel (Luke 21:8) (Jeremiah 29:28-32) to
> speculate on the day and time, even if we can know. This agrees with my
> own experience. I grew up hearing this message. It did not compel me to
> seek the Lord, nor does the message of the end of the world support me
> now in my walk with the Lord. The most effective testimony of the Lord
> before I was born of the Spirit of God was the love of Jesus Christ two
> very important people in my life emulated. The gospel supports this
> experience (I Corinthians 2:13).
>
> Consider the message you are broadcasting around the world. This is an
> enormous responsibility; and opportunity to glorify our Lord. On the
> contrary to what you are teaching, it is when we enter the church that
> we begin to experience tribulation, whether we attend a local
> congregation or not. Furthermore we experience great tribulation as we
> mature in the Lord, as he himself did (Philippians 2:8) (Matthew 10:38)
> (I Corinthians 15:31). We by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit reprove
> the world of sin (John 15:18-20, 22). It is especially for this reason
> that we who know the Lord as our Savior support one another in love
> (Galatians 5:13-5, 26) (Philippians 2:3) and teach doctrine that
> supports his commands (Mark 1:15) (Matthew 10:7-8).
>
> Sincerely your fellow laborer in the Lord,
>
> Daniela Boata
>
>
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