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I am a Friend of God
August 14, 2007

Greetings in the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ,

There is a song that has invaded Assemblies of God music circles entitled “I Am A Friend of God.” Because we no longer sing from a hymnal, I have no idea who authored the song. If I were to guess, it seems to be of the same trite, shallow, poor-grammar genre as those songs released by Hillsong church in Australia.

This song is symptomatic of the problems with the Assemblies of God and the American church in general. That is, we have all become rather arrogant about our relationship with God. This arrogance stems from the growing spirit of the anti-Christ in the world. Specifically, the ascendancy of man and decline of God’s importance are core to many philosophical movements that pervade our lives such as New Age, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the THEORY of evolution, theistic evolution, progressive creationism, case law (legal decisions based on previous decisions made by man versus the basis being the Levitical law and the Bible), and so on. These matching ideas are also the focus of all the world’s religions besides true Christianity. The idea of the ascendancy of man is popularized in one form or another in all modern media including the nightly news, most magazines, newspapers, textbooks for public and higher education schools, television (such as Star Trek) and Hollywood movies.

I believe this song should be removed from the music list of any Bible-believing church. On a common sense level, it carries the same credibility as me declaring myself a professional athlete by saying, “I am an NBA player.” I am not an NBA player; nor could I be unless someone already in the NBA said that I was. This would occur only after I passed a rigorous physical exam and skills tryout. Another illustration of the point would be for me to declare, “I am a medical doctor.” I am not a doctor nor could I be until a certified medical school declared me a successful graduate. My son is in medical school right now. The stories of the academic regimen he endures send chills down my spine.

The point is that we cannot declare ourselves to be things that require the voice of a higher authority. In this case, so much more important than the exceptionally rare appointment to a professional sports team or the call of medicine, we are speaking of being labeled “a friend of God.” I doubt that very many Christians, including some pastors sadly enough, know that God only uses the word “friend” just over 50 times in the entire Bible. Further, He only refers to one person in both the Old and New Testaments as his friend. That was Abraham (see II Chronicles 20:7, Isaiah 41:8, and James 2:23). Jesus refers to Lazarus as “our friend” in John 11:11. Of the two, only Abraham has the title “Friend of God” in James 2. And why does God give Abraham that title? James 2:23 says, “And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness; and he was called the Friend of God.”

Does the vast majority of the pastors and members of the Assemblies of God believe in Him? I contend that we do not. And if I am correct, then the Scripture says that we are not God’s friends! Here are some examples: First, Romans 13:8 says to “owe no man anything.” I don’t see any exceptions there. Yet what do pastors and churches do when they want a bigger church? Why they borrow from a bank instead of waiting on God to provide miraculously!

Second, Leviticus 19:28 says, “Ye shall not make any cuttings on your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you; I am the LORD.” A similar command is repeated in Leviticus 21:5. I Corinthians 3:17 says, “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” I have heard pastors and the chair of our divinity department at our Theological seminary (Earls Creps) make light of tattoos as being a serious issue. Tattoos are the select outward symbol of inward rebellion. And the Bible also says that “Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.” After all, witchcraft is wanting supernatural power without getting it from God. How then can we permanently deface God’s temple with graffiti and gloss over it? I had a deacon’s son write to me at this web site some time ago and he basically said, “I like tattoos and piercings. But, I think God can use a rebel.” That’s not what the Bible says!

Third, the above-mentioned Earl Creps recently gave credence to the idea of having a sinner on your church board (see his book Off-Road Disciplines, page 96, question number 6). I’ve read this in Christian circles elsewhere as well. This would certainly help my former pastor in his quest to help sinners attending my former A/G church to feel like they “belong” before they believe or behave (re: his July 2, 2007 letter to all ministry leaders). Is that more Rick Warren dog poop in the brownies (see my earlier article)? Let’s see, how could we make sinners feel like they belong, even though the pastor’s expository preaching should be convicting them of sin? Robert Schuler said he doesn’t do expository preaching so his congregation can be “happy in Jesus.” Maybe we could show movies in the sanctuary that condone public nudity, violence and sexual immorality. Do we not believe the Bible when it says in II Corinthians 6:14, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness: and what communion hath light with darkness?”

These are only three examples. I have hundreds. This small selection involved whether we believe God regarding his commands that have to do with His Provision, maintaining personal holiness, and our proper relationship with sinners. These are not minor issues brothers and sisters, these are fundamental to our faith. Furthermore, their importance is underscored by the entire history of the children of Israel. Read it in the Bible. These were the three areas where the children of Israel were repeatedly guilty of the “sin of unbelief.”

Sadly, we have a lot of repenting, praying, Bible reading and fasting to do before we can be called a “friend of God.” Let’s delete this foolish song and add fervent devotions to our lives.

Wanting God to Call me His Friend,

Brother Mike

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