NOTE: All comments in brackets [ ] or in parentheses ( ) as well as highlighted text (bolded and/or in blue) are from the author of this study.
Bible quotations are in maroon.
What is the one thing that you can rely on to be the truth and which is to be your criterion in sorting truth from error so as not to be deceived by false prophets?
Through the ages, Christians have had a constant fear of losing their salvation by being deceived by other unconverted men. However, God has not been nor is He now working out His plan of salvation using spirit beings. None of us have had angels appear to us to teach us or any other type of spirit beings and I don’t think anyone really expects that this would occur.
Rather what we see is God using, yes you’ve guessed it, fallible flesh-and-blood men to carry out His plan of salvation for mankind and He used flesh-and-blood men to write the Holy Bible which is our only sure means of sorting truth from error. And, if we read into the background of the men God used to write the Bible — using the Bible itself to determine this but in many cases the authorship of books cannot be known for sure — we can see that they did not belong to any established and accepted religious group; they were not high ranking and well-respected members of any popular religious organization.
Often times, they were non-religious individuals called straight out of the world and, in the case of Paul, he was a member of a religious organization that was fighting against Christians and delivering then to the authorities to be put to death. How can anything he wrote be considered God’s truth; why he wasn’t even part of the original disciples taught by Christ? How can anything he wrote be the basis for the beliefs of untold number of Christians through the ages? Matthew was a tax collector, Peter was a fisherman, Luke was a physician and James and John were also fishermen. These were hardly the kind of people according to the standards applied in the world and in God’s Church who would have any credibility in terms of being the source of new truth God wanted to give to mankind. Yet, they were used by God to write the books of the New Testament.
How can a book, or several books in the case of the Bible, written by men which were not part of a duly-approved, well-respected and popular religious organizations ever be the basis for the faith of eventually millions of men. Don’t you have to be part of a well-established, highly-respected popular religious group and don’t you have to have been accepted by those men who have appointed themselves as leaders of that group in order for your words to not be immediately rejected and labeled as heresy that all are to avoid?
Which ones of the men who wrote the Bible did so subject to the approval of the leadership of the mainline religious group of the day? How many writers of the books of the Bible did their writing under the direction and supervision of an established church organization, even one of the pastors of God’s Church. Can you think of any? I can’t. Paul whose conversion came after Christ’s ascension to His Father wrote several epistles that form a major part of the New Testament writings of the Bible. Did he send drafts of what he wrote to Peter and John who were in Jerusalem for their approval? Paul after his conversion did go to Jerusalem but it was not to obtain their approval for anything of what he was doing after his conversion. Read Galatians 2 to get the detail of what occurred on that occasion.
Does the Bible allow us to see a pattern in how God uses fallible men as His instrument in making available to mankind information about His master plan of salvation?
What kind of people has God has been calling to participate in the administration of His plan of salvation for mankind?
You see your calling
Some of you may recall the ministry at different times using the following Scriptures from 1 Corinthians.
1Co 1:26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
1Co 1:27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1Co 1:28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
1Co 1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
These verses make it clear that those whom God is calling more often than not are not the rich, famous and powerful of this world. Not many mighty, not many noble are called because as is explained in 1 Cor’n 1:27, God chooses the foolish things of the world (as the world defines foolishness) to confound (perplex; amaze) the wise (as the world defines wisdom) and He has chosen the weak things of the world i.e., those who are without any great power or influence over large number of people to confound (amaze; perplex) the mighty.
He has chosen the base things (1 Cor 1:28) of the world (things which are considered to be of little or no value by the world) and things which are despised (things regarded with disdain or disgust; contempt by the world) and things which are not (according to the world i.e., all things spiritual which the world cannot know) to bring to nought (nothing) things that are. (This current physical-material civilization will be brought to nothing with the coming of God’s Kingdom which is spiritual ; it is “not” i.e., it does not exist as far as the world is concerned but it will bring to nought this present, physical material world.)
And, in 1 Cor 1: 29 God tells us He is proceeding in this way so that no flesh i.e., no man can claim before Him to be that mighty and wise person which is making possible the successful administration of His master plan of salvation for mankind.
Converted Men and Power — A Biblical Perspective
Although truly converted, men are still drawn to power and all that it makes possible for those who have it. With power come adulation, fame, money, respect and praise from those seeking favors for themselves or their friends or whose own status they feel is elevated by being seen to be close to the ministry. In the Church, holding an ordained office is a major source of pride and power. The regular members look up to these men with a certain amount of awe and long to be close to them so as to enjoy a kind of personal relationship that others don’t have and which fills them with pride.
I will not use Old Testament examples where men lusting for power have caused havoc. In the Old Testament only certain individuals were given access to God’s Holy Spirit and it is not unexpected that those whom they lead or came in contact with would react in a carnal-minded fashion to them but what about the truly converted.
In the New Testament, we have the Gospel and especially the epistles where we can see how well converted people exercise power and how well those over whom power is exercised reacted to the leadership in the Church.
In 1 Corinthian 12 we see Paul giving a long explanation to the brethren regarding how it is that different individuals play different roles in the body of Christ which is the Church. Why was it necessary for Paul to take the time to carefully and at length explain this? Paul was clearly responding to something that had become a problem in the Church or he would not have written about it.
What was the problem Paul was addressing?
Some of the members were unhappy with their position or role in the Church or body of Christ. They wanted to play different, more important, more prestigious roles than the one they found themselves in but Paul tells them the Church is one body composed of many members where all roles are important. The body of Christ, the Church does not consist of one person or member but of many coming and working together as one body.
1Co 12:12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
1Co 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into, one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
1Co 12:14 For the body is not one member, but many.
And, in the body of the Church, the several individuals composing the body play different roles which all work together to profit the whole body according to the manifestation of the Spirit given to each member or as Paul explains in the following verses:
1Co 12:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
1Co 12:8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
1Co 12:9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
1Co 12:10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
And, most importantly of all for the members to realize and understand, is that the roles given the different members of the body of Christ are determined by God. Men do not choose for themselves the role they will play in the body; God places them in the body as it pleases Him.
1Co 12:18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
The members Christ’s body or Church are like the members of a physical body; all have a necessary role to play which all contribute to the well being of the body.
1Co 12:14 For the body is not one member, but many.
1Co 12:15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
1Co 12:16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
1Co 12:17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
1Co 12:20 But now are they many members, yet but one body.
1Co 12:21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.
1Co 12:22 Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:
When becoming a member of God’s Church we become part of one body in which the roles assigned to the different members are determined by God and where all members of the body play an important role essential to the well being of the body regardless of how important or unimportant some role may seem to be to the person.
It is therefore pointless to engage in carnal-minded competition in an effort to be set in one role rather than another which we consider to be more important than our own; all roles are important.
1 Cor 12 is a call to church members to stop being dissatisfied with their current role in the body of Christ or level of authority given them. Converted Church members need to be careful not to become involved in heated competition for different offices in the body of Christ.
It is a temptation and a problem which would not affect only the Corinthian congregations but all congregations of God’s Church throughout the ages. Paul was not writing solely for the Corinthians. The Scriptures are for Christians of all time.
What about today?
Some of you reading this study are long term members of God’s Church who have seen that men’s tendency, even truly converted men, to want ever more power has been evident in the days when the true Church was headed up by Mr. Armstrong.
There were several defections by ministers who left the Church and took with them the majority of their congregations. These ministers wanted to be the supreme leaders of their congregation and not have to answer to a headquarters organization. Mr. Armstrong’s own son rebelled and left with brethren from several congregations to found a new Church. He thought he should be the head of the Church.
Most of us have seen men competing for positions of leadership in the Church and becoming bitter when they lost out to someone else. It was not all peace and cooperation.
And after the death of Mr. Armstrong and the destruction of the corporate body of the Church we saw the creation of several “churches of God” headed up by those who were former leaders in the Church. Oddly enough these so-called “churches or God” did not all believe nor teach the same things and, over time, gradually moved away from the fundamental beliefs of God’s Church to become one of the several churches of this world. They have become pitiless financial exploiters of their flocks to provide lives of luxury for themselves. Others, have gone on to be religious leaders in one of the mainstream religions of this world as they were gifted speakers who could attract members and hold their attention thus growing the flock of tithes payers for the organization and increasing the wealth of the rulers of the organization.
God’s true Church is by no means safe from its leadership becoming carnal minded and using their offices and authority to exert a type and level of control over the brethren that is contrary to Biblical teachings.
In the same way false prophets arise from the ordained members of God’s Church (the elders) (Act 20:29-30) there has always been leaders who acted abusively toward the brethren.
We who have been in the congregations of the Worldwide Church of God have personally witnessed such events or have personally experienced abuses of authority by the ministry.
The administration of God’s government in the Church is to be as described in 1 Timothei 5:
1Ti 5:1 Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren;
1Ti 5:2 The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity.
1Ti 5:3 Honour widows that are widows indeed.
1Ti 5:4 But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God.
But the main point I want to make and that I will return to here is that because of the human tendency to hoard and grow power, and exclude others from sharing in it, the Church once it becomes established, becomes unable to grow in knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures.
This is a very important understanding that explains why once a congregation becomes well established with deacons, elders and pastors, it stops growing spiritually.
We can easily see in the Bible that the main and greatest obstacle to new knowledge and understanding coming into the Church has been the leadership in the Church.
What do I mean?
Entities unto Themselves
You will recall that Jesus came to his own, the Jews at the time of His First Coming and that He not only was rejected by the religious elite of the time but they conspired and succeeded in having Him put to death because He was showing them up before the people as not really knowing the Scriptures as well as they said and thought they did. The people were starting to lose confidence in them and they did not want to lose their positions of authority over the people and their status.
In our days, Mr. Armstrong went to the remnant of the Sardis Era Church wanting to share with them some of the wonderful truths God had revealed to him. They refused to hear him; he was not part of their organization; he had not come up through their ranks and being approved by the leaders of the Church. Even Christ coming as a young man of thirty to one of the many offshoot Churches of God after the death of Mr. Armstrong would see Himself rejected just as much as He was the first time by Pharisees and the Sadducees. The wonderful new truths he had been given would have to be shared with new converts that God would call to become part of a new congregation with no ties to the congregations of the remnant Sardis Era. These new converts would become the founding members of God’s Philadelphia Era Church.
Why?
The leaders in the Church, and this applies to all churches of God through the ages as well as to organizations in the world, are extremely protective of their power and will not let anything or anyone put it in jeopardy.
The leaders in the Church see themselves as the guardians of the truth and are totally close-minded to listening to anyone else, especially to anyone which is not part of their own organization.
Their stance is they have all the truth and that there is no more truth to be known. The truth given the Church by Mr. Armstrong as far as they are concerned is complete for all times and there is nothing in what Mr. Armstrong taught that could be in error or need correction nor is there anything that could be added to it. This way of thinking and behaving is not solely to be found in the leadership but in just about every member of the Church.
Given this mindset, the Church has become spiritually stagnant and can only repeat over and over the truth that it has. No new truth can be given it; it would be immediately rejected as the Pharisees and the Sadducees rejected Christ, the member of Sardis rejected Mr. Armstrong and, as the Jews rejected Paul. The result is that the Jews are still waiting for Christ’s First Coming, Sardis is still teaching the very limited truth that it had, Philadelphia is still teaching the truth restored to it by HWA and none of them can ever have growth in spiritual knowledge.
Yet, Bible history clearly shows that God periodically adds to the Church’s storehouse of truth and He does so most of the time using men that were called straight out of the world and who have never been part of any religious organization. This is pretty well the story of the OT prophets which God sent to Israel and who were persecuted and sometimes killed and always fully rejected. Their words were conserved for future generations by becoming one of the books of the Bible.
The pattern is clear that in just about every instance, new truth comes into the Church through perfect strangers which God has called as His instrument. And the result is always the same; they are rejected and the truth they had is recorded to be used by others who have yet to be called and who will form the next generation of God’s Church and in some cases, be the founding members of a new church era.
The Men God Uses
The Bible reveals that the men God used to write the Bible and to carry out different missions on His behalf were usually called to their commission straight out of the world. They were not members of the religious elite of their days nor were they students of the Scriptures or renowned scholars recognized by the religious authorities of their days. God placed His words in their mouths, He overcame any and all of their objections that they were unworthy or unclean in some way or that they had a physical impairment of one kind or another that prevented them from carrying out the mission He had for them (Moses stuttered, Jeremiah thought of himself as being too young).
These men had not been in training for the task God wanted them to perform, they were not desperately hoping that God would use them to carry out some great mission on His behalf and they were not part of the ruling religious elite of their days. The apostle Paul who fought against Christians until God called him is an exception in that he was very active in the religion of the Jews who were the religious rulers of that time. Please note that Judaism is not God’s religion; the Jews are still waiting for Christ’s First Coming to occur; they rejected His teachings and put Him to death as they consider Him to have been a false prophet.
The books of the Bible for the most part were written by men who had no previous formal religious training, who were not part of the accepted religious organization of their days, who were not religious scholars and who were called straight out of the world in most cases. The books of the Bible which are the basis of your faith were written by such men yet in God’s church today, there is this strongly held belief that any growth in knowledge and understanding of the Bible can only ever come from the ordained ministry in established congregations even though there is no Biblical example of that ever having occurred. God used individuals who often were not religious and who were not students of religion but who rather were busily doing their own thing in the world as His instrument in making more information available to those constituting His Church.
Knowing this, can we see a pattern in how God does things?
Is it reasonable to believe that any new knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures will come or can only come from the religious leaders of the former congregations of God’s Church before the destruction of the corporate body of the Church after the death of Mr. Armstrong? Most if not all of them have gone on to create their own mutually exclusive groups preaching their own messages which are in conflict with those of other groups with all of them calling themselves churches of God.
They all want to be on television preaching the Gospel to the world even though this has already been done. The Gospel was to be preached as a witness unto the nations and then the end would come. It was not to be continuously preached (it was the sign of the coming of the end) and the purpose for preaching the Gospel is not to convert men; conversion is by God’s Holy Spirit. All these new “churches of God” are all calling themselves the one true church and they are all calling each other Laodicean and themselves Philadelphians.
Is there something wrong with this picture?
It reveals a serious misunderstanding of the truth given the Church by God’s end time Elijah and/or a willful disregard of it.
In their respective congregations, these so-called true ministers of God brutally enforce conformity with their teachings and do not tolerate in the least anyone questioning what they teach. They are the great teachers of truth to whom is owed the greatest of honor and respect. They exercise dictatorial control over their members and quickly punish anyone perceived as not being fully supportive of everything they do and say by excluding them from services or outright disfellowshipping them.
Is that what God’s government looks like in practical application? In 1 Tim 5 as we have seen, we have a description of God’s government in action; please take the time to read through this chapter and decide for yourself whether God’s government is being applied in your congregation but I digress.
How Truth Enters the Church
The Bible was written by men who today would find themselves as totally ignored and persecuted as they were thousands of years ago and for the very same reasons. Whenever a religious organization becomes established it becomes an entity unto itself. It refuses to listen to anyone which is not one of their own group and, who in that group, is not one of the ruling elite. Christ Himself could come to them as a young man of 30 and try to teach them truth fully provable with their Bible and they would not only refuse to hear Him but they would remove Him from their meeting and prevent Him from ever coming back.
The Pharisees rejected Christ and ultimately put Him to death. More recently, the remnant of the Sardis Church rejected Mr. Armstrong’s teachings which were all fully provable from the pages of their Bible but they would not listen.
Once a church becomes established, even congregations of the God’s true Church, they wall themselves off from hearing anything from anyone which does not correspond with the truth that they have received at the foundation of their organization. They always think that they have all the truth that can be had and that nothing could be added to it and especially not by someone which is not one of them. This is why God periodically has to raise up new Churches to make it possible for new truth that He has for His Church to be taught.
Sardis was left behind and a new era started with those who converted at the teachings of Mr. Armstrong. The coming Laodicean Church will also be for the greatest part an entirely different group of people as God’s Philadelphia Era Church congregations are as frozen in their knowledge and understanding of the truth as was Sardis and in all likelihood as were all previous established church era congregations. It would seem each Church era is given truth which then becomes for those having received it the total truth that no one can add to.
However, as time and events move on, they get left behind like God’s Sardis Church was and like God’s Philadelphia Church is now being left behind. Those making up God’s Laodicean Era Church will have knowledge and understanding that God’s Philadelphia Church will not have but could have had were it not so close minded and so sure they had all the truth when in fact, if they had an attitude like the Bereans (Act 17: 10-11), they could come to know what new truth God would like to give them. But, history is against them and but for a few exceptional individuals, they will remain blind to any new knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures.
They will remain blind because they are afraid of being misled by false teachers or prophets and because they cannot read with understanding their Bible; men are their criterion of truth. But Christ says the elect cannot be deceived (Mat 24:24) and God praised the Bereans for having an open mind and checking out with their Bible Paul’s teachings to determine if they were true or not (Act 17:10-11). God complimented Ephesian Era Christians who refused to follow false apostles that had arisen (Rev 2:2) within their congregations. God in the parable of the talents (Matt 25) makes it very clear that Christians do not have as an option to hide with the truth they have and refuse to consider anything else fearing they could lose the truth they have. Those doing so lose their salvation (Matt 25: 26-30); God insists on spiritual growth in His called and chosen ones; it is not optional.
Christ is pictured as knocking at the door of Christians and hoping they will open it so that He can share with them new information.
Rev 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
This is spoken to the Laodicean Era Church but like all other Church Era characteristics, they are found in Christians of all eras. Christians of all era have to keep an open mind and not reject outright anything and everything coming their way which is not exactly what they have always thought or believed. Christ nor angels will appear to you to teach you; it will be done through men as has always been the case and it will be men who are not the great and mighty in the world or in God’s Church. You have no choice but to keep your eyes and ears open to new truth that may come your way. These men will mostly have been raised up straight out of the world by God and not be part of any existing religious group or congregations.
Be Not Many Masters
Though God’s Church is mainly made up of men whom the world considers to be the base, weak and foolish there are some which are of the wise, the mighty and the noble of the world. And we who have been members of God’s Church when there was an organized corporate body of the Church have known and seen some of them, many of which held ordained offices in the Church but not always.
These were truly converted men finding themselves in positions of leadership and authority over the brethren which placed a bigger burden on them than the non-ordained members of the Church.
What is that bigger burden they had and which all leadership position entail.
Jas 3:1 My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.
Jas 3:2 For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.
Then James goes on to explain how it is impossible to tame the tongue which James says is :”……an unruly evil, full of deadly poison…. “(Jas 3:8). One who is in a position of leadership, because of the influence that person exercises over the brethren, must be extremely careful not to give offense by failing to restrain his tongue. Since no man can tame the tongue, it follows that at time individuals in ordained offices will give offense to one or more brethren and will have to make amends so as not to allow the offense to linger and possibly affect the conversion of those offended.
It is a very hard thing for men in positions of authority to humble themselves, admit they spoke wrongly and ask to be forgiven by someone who is of lower status, who has no formal authority in the Church and which the leadership in the Church consider to be the base and weak people that make up the majority of those whom God calls. Yet, it must be done so that the leadership does not become a source of discouragement which may in time cause someone to go back into the world seeing that those in authority in the church are not less abusive of those they lead than the unconverted.
This is the greater condemnation of those who would be masters, teachers or leaders in God’s Church. They will inevitably sometimes give offense and will have to admit it and ask to be forgiven by those they have offended.
Not an easy thing to do and not something that someone can readily admit to having done so as not to have to apologize to those they have offended.
The ordained ministry can give offense to many and cause them to sour on God’s Church and eventually leave it unless the offender makes amend. This does not always happen.
The Lust for Power
In the world, most of us have seen how having been given power over others can and does have a detrimental influence on most people if not everybody. Power is said to be like strong drink; the more power one has, the greater the negative impact on the behavior of people as they become more and more intoxicated with greater and greater power. They’re not the same person we once knew; having power changed them and not for the better.
Power becomes an end in itself. Countless wars have been fought to determine who is to rule over whom. The battle rages on between men and women, colored people and white people, straight and gay people, the rich and the poor, political parties etc. The battle is especially fierce at the political level where men and women ruthlessly compete to get power, stay in power and increase their power over others.
In God’s Church which is made up of men called straight out of the world in most cases where lusting after power and wealth is what all were doing, we also see men competing for positions of authority in the Church.
The Bible makes it clear that God’s Church is not immune from men competing with all their might against one another for such positions as deacon, elder, preaching elder, pastor and evangelist and the status, prestige, money and perks (free car, travel expense reimbursement, the prestige of the office, the respect of the non-ordained Church members etc.) that come with these offices.
Once in positions of leadership, people become very protective of their status and act in such a way as to ensure others know who is the boss. They become the gatekeepers for those seeking entry into the group and will usually only allow in newcomers who are seen as non-threatening to their own status but who are also not necessarily the most capable of exercising a leadership function.
Over time, the leadership group becomes an entity unto itself which does not see itself as necessarily constrained by the same rules as their subjects and who come to expect strongly to be treated with honor and respect as they consider befit men of their stature.
Do we have Biblical examples of such occurrences in the Church?
Let’s see if we can find some.
Paul in speaking to the Ephesian congregations explained to the Gentiles coming in to God’s Church how they had become members of God’s Church and holy temple in which God dwells through the Spirit.
Eph 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
Eph 2:20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
Eph 2:21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
Eph 2:22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Of particular interest to us in these verses is that God’s holy temple or church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets with Christ being the chief corner stone of this spiritual building.
And who were these apostles and prophets who wrote the foundational texts of the Bible or books of the Bible?
Who Wrote the Books of the Bible?
The Bible is the one and only sure reference point that Christians can use to discern truth from error but as we have seen God is not calling the powerful, the mighty or the noble of this world and as we will see, He also has not used them to write the Bible.
In many cases, it cannot be definitely determined from the Biblical text who wrote the different books of the Bible. Where the Bible is explicit about who was the author of a specific book we do not get a lot of information on the social standing of the writer but there are some books where this is possible and these are the ones we’ll look at. Where there is no specific information provided by the Bible as to who is the author of a specific book, men have resorted to what tradition says as to who was the author or have referred to scholarly studies that suggest that the author was a certain person.
As a general rule the Bible tells us the following:
2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
And, that prophecy which is the word of God written in the Bible, did not come out of men’s imagination but rather it was holy men (they had God’s Holy Spirit in them which is why they are “holy”) spoke as they were moved or inspired by the Holy Spirit.
2Pe 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
The holy men of God who wrote the books of the Bible neither are the mighty, the famous, the noble or the wealthy of the world nor are they individuals who were particularly religious or who had an interest in things religious. They were called straight out of the world as most of us were.
The men called by God often protested that they did not have the ability to fulfill the commission God wanted to give them; they tried to avoid having to do it.
Isaiah complained that he was of unclean lips but God immediately overcame his objections by cleansing his lips (Is 6:5-8) and he went on to fulfill his commission.
Jeremiah was called by God while still very young and was reluctant to take on the task that God wanted him to do. Eventually he accepted his commission but Jeremiah’s words were not accepted by the religious elite of the day or by the king. He was persecuted and his life made miserable even to the point of being thrown in a cistern and left to die. His words were not what they wanted to hear and the priests of that time fought against him and sought to discredit him and he was forced to flee from the king.
Jeremiah was not accepted by the priests and prophets of Jerusalem. He had a disturbing message which no one wanted to hear. He could not possibly be a true prophet from God speaking the truth. They had to get rid of him one way or another.
I will not go through all the books of the Bible. The identity and origin of the authors of different books of the Bible when the Bible identifies him can usually be found in the opening verses of the book.
What can be easily deduced by examining who were the authors of the books of the Bible is that God called them straight out of the world and not from any established and widely accepted religious group and their writings were not subject to review and approval by any religious leader or committee of religious scholars. Yet, they are the ones through whom God was giving more knowledge about how His plan of salvation is being worked out including sometimes, knowledge of future events.
This is how God has been proceeding from the beginning and will continue to proceed until the end of his master plan of salvation for mankind. He will use the little people of this world to bring new knowledge and understanding of upcoming events and increase true Christians’ understanding of the Bible generally.
Conclusion
If you keep an open mind, use your Bible as your criterion of truth, do not get in the habit of immediately rejecting anything that you have not been taught by God’s Church without first having checked it out with your Bible, then you may be one of the few who will receive new knowledge and understanding that will result in spiritual growth in your life and an improved understanding of God’s plan of salvation and upcoming events as we near the end of God’s 6th day (a prophetic day is 1,000 years in fulfillment) of His 7,000 year plan of salvation for mankind.
God's Spiritual Nation 