By Jason Charles | Wake the Church | August 10, 2016
The Apostle Paul in Galatians 5:12 wished castration upon the doctrine perverting Judaized preachers of his day.
“I would they were even cut off which trouble you” Galatians 5:12 (KJV)
“As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!” Galatians 5:12 (NIV)
Neuter: A general term used to describe the castration of a male animal.
Can you imagine? An Apostle of Jesus Christ using this phraseology at all? But he did when addressing the usurping teachers that came in among the congregations of churches that he planted, especially in the Church of Galatia. To get the whole back-story read through Acts Chapter 5, and also read the entire book of Galatians. You will quickly realize he is talking about the Judaizers.
The reason why the Apostle Paul was vehemently opposed to these Judaizers was because in an ultimate sense, it was false doctrine that taught the superiority of the Mosaic Law over Christ. That meant it immediately became a salvation issue for Paul. Therefore he brought it to the wisdom and counsel of the other Apostles in Jerusalem, as seen in Galatians 5. At that counsel the Holy Spirit affirmed the total forsaking of the Judaizers among all congregations in no uncertain terms.
We learn by reading in these chapters that the Judaized “Christians” were really agents of the Pharisees. They were highly trained orators that worked to convince gentile Christians to take on the religion of Judaism as being superior to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, even teaching the need to circumcise their grown boys and men. So the Apostle Paul stated he wished they wouldn’t stop at circumcision, but instead emasculate themselves in entirety. That is the spiritual illustration he thought most appropriate when speaking of his arch-enemies, these Pharisee agitators. Christian teachers who pander to power, fame, and money have emasculated themselves as well. They get up every Sunday and preach absolute drivel. Simply because they lack the man-stuff that is required, to unabashedly preach the Truth and the Word of God.
The Pharisees were the ultimate political panderers. Instead of preaching against the paganism and corruption of the Roman government, or the unjustness of the occupation of Rome, they jumped in bed with the power elite. They did it for the money, fame, power, and spiritual authority. How many pastors out there would rather neuter themselves preferring large platforms, power and money over the satisfaction of uncompromisingly preaching the entirety of God’s Word in the Truth and Power of the Holy Spirit? Judging by the state of our country currently, we have a lot of emasculated “preachers” out there, shepherding a lot of emasculated Christians. This is the direct result of the Judafication of the American churches. Perverse, entertainment driven, cowardly and panderers to a wicked culture and government. God hated the Jewish Religion, it is sickly, and yet millions of Americans have been Judaized by their pandering pastors and Bible teachers.
Under the Knife
The Bible records three major sins of the Pharisees? Those sins were Lust for political power (John 19:15), lust for the Spiritual Authority of the Temple (Matt. 26:60-61) and the lust for Money (Matt. 23:5). These are the sins that castrated the Pharisees, and they are also the ones that have castrated the American pastors. To be caught up in any of these things is to become like the pathetic Pharisees. The Pharisees were despised false teachers that Jesus and the Apostle Paul both used extreme language and leveled massive charges against. Here are some of the modern knives Pastors take to themselves in an effort to stay connected to power, money, and perceived spiritual authority among their congregations.
Allowing the Politicizing of All Social Issues
One of the most advanced tactics of the establishment is to limit and chill political criticism by the pulpit by politicizing every issue under the sun. Marriage, Sex, Abortion, war, money, slavery, racism all things the Bible has lots to speak on all have become totally off limits for the average American preacher. They simply won’t touch any of these issues because they fear the backlash politically. They understand if they were to speak on any of these topics there will be internal, and political consequences, and choose not to address any issue that has been politicized as a result. A study by the Barna Group says Pastors knowingly choose to limit their speech at the pulpit.
“What we’re finding is that when we ask them about all the key issues of the day, [90 percent of them are] telling us, Yes, the Bible speaks to every one of these issues. Then we ask them: Well, are you teaching your people what the Bible says about those issues? – and the numbers drop … to less than 10 percent of pastors who say they will speak to it.” (ONN quoting the BarnaGroup)
So the establishment, via the media, political rhetoric and PC culture create these no-go zones around certain issues, issues the Bible plainly teaches on. Instead pastors grovel to their political overlords rather than instruct what the Bible teaches. Pastors that do this, are like the Pharisees, and are pathetically self-castrated. As a result they have succumbed to the lust of power. The power of political asylum and the power of large crowds that loved their ears tickled on a weekly basis.
These same pastors will then turn around and give the excuse that they should only focus on the Gospel. As if Jesus, the giver of the Gospel never confronted the establishment elite. Hypocritical, and pure cowardice by the pastors to allow the PC culture to dictate what they can or can’t preach on.
These Pastors need to grow a pair, and preach the Word in its entirety, or just like Paul said Emasculate themselves and get it over with.
501c3 Tax Exemption
The Pharisees benefited from the Roman protected, temple-tax, ponzi scheme in Jesus’ day, as does the pastors of today benefit from the IRS tax exempt status. In an article in Forbes, Tax Expert Peter J Reilly quotes the IRS as saying,
“The IRS continues to make it clear that political campaign intervention by 501(c)(3) organizations including churches is absolutely prohibited.
“Under the Internal Revenue Code, all section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office.” (Forbes)
As long as a pastor refrains from speaking on above stated politicized issues they are allowed to operate tax free. Those pastors that have stopped speaking the Truth of scripture because they fear the tax man have fallen prey to the lust of Money. Just like the Pharisees that coveted their spiritual extortion racket in the Temple, so do these pathetically emasculated pastors pathetically cling to their 501c3 Tax Exempt status. The massive, million dollar mega-churches, the huge staffs, and dozens of social programs cost a lot of money to run. So offending their congregation and actually preaching what the Word of God says is not on the agenda of these modern neutered dogs, much less preaching something that would affect their protected status with the IRS.
Legalism
Like the Pharisees these Pastors love making up rules and doctrines on just about everything. What people should wear, what they should eat, how they should run their families, what they should think about end times, etc. They are scared to preach on controversial issues so instead they just make up petty doctrinal rules. These rules are then enforced by the judgmental, legalists within the congregational flock. They simply enforce the Holier-than-thou rules laid out by the pastor through gossip and back biting. Talking behind peoples back, pointing out how they do things, and how they aren’t as Christian as the other people is a hallmark of the Pharisees.
Jesus was constantly at odds with the Pharisees, especially about their petty rule making. These rules infringed upon the freedoms and liberties of the people. God made us to be free, to live righteously in the confines of our own conscience and heart. He didn’t intend mankind to become tyrannical in the physical sense or the spiritual sense. These pastors love the controlling nature of spiritual rules and love to see the shows of righteousness among their flock. They have fallen prey to the lust of spiritual authority. They are bulldogs among their own congregation, enforcing their petty doctrinal rules, but are too cowardly to speak up in public, or call out the wicked polices of the federal government. Things Jesus actually did. Jesus went out of His way to offend the legalistic Pharisees in everything He did. He could of healed on any day of the week, but He always healed on the Sabbath to spite the Pharisees. He didn’t wash his hands when meeting with the Pharisees, showing His disdain for their petty customs. He publicly called them out for their perpetually hypocrisy, which infuriated them to no end. Jesus looked at them as if they were sinners in the same class as adulterers, thieves and murderers, and in His mind that is exactly what they were. They cheated their disciples from truly knowing and loving God, they stole from them the freedoms God intended for them, and they murdered the Truth in favor of political power.
Conclusion
It is easy to find out if a pastor is a courageous Truth teller, or a neutered dumb dog. Simply schedule an appointment with him and ask him why you haven’t heard him preach on hugely controversial topics? Ask them is God Pro-life? Then why don’t they condemn abortion at the pulpit? Is God anti-Sodomy? Then why don’t they chastise Gay Marriage proponents? Is God Pro-War? Then why don’t they deride the warmongers on Fox News and the warmonger politicians by name? If they can’t answer you with a straight face or make excuses for what they preach, then you know you are dealing with someone the Apostle Paul would consider as totally emasculated and worthless.
The Old Testament Prophets, the Apostles and Jesus were constantly out of favor with the power elite because they were not afraid to call rulers and leaders out for their misdeeds and actions. The church today is not only in favor with the power elite they’re rewarded like domesticated animals with tax exemptions, political favors, radio shows and T.V. stations. Why, because they are all cowards, worthless, no salt, no nothing in the way of persevering a culture that fears God.
It is time we identify these cowards, call them out, leave their churches, and point out their lack of testicular fortitude. After all that is exactly what Jesus and the Apostles did was it not?
Chuck Baldwin’s commentary on the above article:
I believe Jason’s trenchant and timely treatise is spot-on. For the most part, America’s pastors and churches have been spiritually castrated.
And, as Jason notes in his column, the 501c3 non-profit organization classification of churches plays a big part. All the government needs to do to silence today’s pulpits is to politicize anything contained in the Bible, and, ABRACADABRA, pastors are prohibited from publicly preaching about it without jeopardizing their precious tax-exempt status. And try to name the spiritual sin or criminal conduct condemned in Holy Writ that ISN’T politicized these days! So, in effect, to stay on the smiley side of the Internal Revenue Code, pastors and churches are pretty much prohibited from saying anything about anything. So they don’t.
Why do you think the Pied Piper of Prosperity Preachers, Joel Osteen, has tens of thousands of pastors all over the country mimicking him? He says absolutely nothing that could be remotely considered “political” or “controversial” by the powers that be, and people by the millions across the country love it–and so does the government in Washington, D.C.
From the days of Israel’s Old Testament prophets, to the we-must-obey-God-rather-than-men New Testament apostles, to the Anabaptists living under the Roman-controlled governments of the Dark Ages, to the Reformation leaders in Germany and Switzerland, to the Black Robed Regiment pastors in Colonial America, dictatorial governments have hated courageous, truth-telling preachers. And nothing shuts up a potential courageous, truth-telling pastor these days like the promise of government-sanctioned prosperity.
Jason is also correct when he rightly highlights the way America’s pastors and churches have allowed themselves to be Judaized. In truth, today’s Zionists are nothing more than the Judaizers of Jesus and the disciples’ day. One cannot find a single social or cultural industry of any magnitude that is not heavily influenced by Zionists, including the entertainment industry, the mainstream media, the pornography industry, the LGBT movement, the Neocon political establishment, the Warfare State, political correctness, the burgeoning Police State, the anti-Second Amendment caucuses, the anti-Christian organizations, ad infinitum. And currently, Zionists are pulling out all of the stops and calling in all of the favors to make sure Hillary Clinton is elected President.
Sadly, a majority of Christian pastors and churches willingly and enthusiastically identify with these modern-day Judaizers. As such, they are blind to the root of America’s real problems. In other words, they are spiritually castrated.
John the Baptist, Jesus, and the apostles clearly had no stomach or patience for these Judaizers or the Pharisees that controlled them. Yet, all over America, today’s pastors and Christians sympathize with them, support them, and shill for them. If you want to get a taste of how viciously vengeful these people can be, just say something unfavorable (in any notable public forum) about the modern state of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, or Zionists in general, and see what happens.
Yet, here are a few examples of what Christ and the apostles said to and about these Judaizers and the Zionist Pharisees that led them:
“Hypocrites”
“The child of hell”
“Blind guides”
“Ye fools and blind”
“Whited sepulchres”
“Are within full of dead men’s bones”
“Full of uncleanness”
“Full of hypocrisy and iniquity”
“The children of them which killed the prophets”
“Ye serpents”
“Ye generation of vipers”
“Whose mouths must be stopped”
“Who subvert whole houses”
“Such are false apostles”
“Deceitful workers”
“His [Satan’s] ministers”
“Of the synagogue of Satan”
When is the last time you were in a church where the pastor quoted these scriptural passages or, if he did, made them relevant to anything today?
For this reason, I urge readers to watch my series of messages (on two DVDs) entitled “The Church And Israel.” Forget what you’ve been taught all of your life. Look at the Scriptures honestly and objectively for yourself. You might be shocked at what you will discover. I know I was. These two DVDs have helped thousands of people to better understand the scriptural teaching of Biblical Israel. Find them here:
You might also enjoy my message series (on one DVD) entitled “Christ And The Pharisees.” This was the message series that birthed “The Church And Israel” series. Find it here:
Fear of losing tax-exempt status; fear of being controversial; fear of losing tithing members; fear of being politically incorrect; fear of the Judaizers. It all adds up to the same thing: castrated churches.
© Chuck Baldwin
