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The Order of St. Andrew
What are we all about?
The Order is calling the church and the world back to a right relationship with God and His infallible and fully authoritative Word. The church has strayed from the recognition of the full authority of the Word of God and has substituted for it other false authorities such as reason, tradition, and experience. We abhor violence, and do not ascribe to pre-emptive violence in this cause. We seek, as instruments of God, to change the hearts and minds of people. The war we fight is the cultural war, the spiritual war; the war for hearts and minds. When and if such a war spills out into the streets violently, then we all shall suffer loss.
Members of the Order, both male and female, may wear the clergy shirt and clerical (tab) collar at authorized functions or at other times as desired. The member may choose the shirt color worn. This priestly attire attests to the world that all who have received the gift of true faith in Christ Jesus and His finished work on the Cross are indeed priests (I.Peter 2:9). There is no mediator nor dispenser of grace but Christ alone. Members shall also display the logo or symbol of the Order on the lapel or shirt at all appropriate times.
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Reason, Tradition, and Experience: The Three Stooges of Authority
Reason is a great tool for proper Biblical interpretation, but it should never be used as an authority equaling, rivaling, or supplanting the Word of God. There is a way that seemeth right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death. That which seems reasonable to us may not be reasonable to God! Who are we to reply against the Creator of all that is? It is not necessary for us to understand completely everything God has said. When the great I AM has spoken, it is not for us to question Him, it is for us to understand what He has said and to obey Him; nothing more and nothing less! Many things may seem wrong to us, but inasmuch as they are perspicuously and clearly written in the Word of God, we are not to question them; rather we are to obey them and accept them.
Traditions are all well and good as long as they do not conflict with the teachings of the Holy Writ. The moment that our traditions conflict with the Word of God, those traditions must be jettisoned. He (i.e., Jesus) answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. (Mark 7:6-9). It is well to scrutinize our traditions in order to try and ascertain how it is that they became traditions in the first place. Is there some Scriptural basis for our traditions? Perhaps there is. Thus, we do not advocate the dismantling of all ecclesiastical tradition. In fact, we openly advocate our heritage, insomuch as it is a Christian heritage, and we openly show our reapplication of certain ecclesiastical traditions, conforming them accurately to real and true Biblical teachings. For example, all members of the Order of St. Andrew may wear the attire of the priest, for as Christian men and women, we are all priests according to the Scripture! Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people (I.Peter 2:9). This is why we wear the clerical or clergy collar.
Experience is perhaps the most misused in ecclesiastical organizations today which mimic the true church. Many elevate experience above Scripture. While it is true that all Christians must have had an experience with our Lord, which is that regeneration of the Holy Ghost which comes by the grace of God alone in the finished work of Christ Jesus, today we find many placing authority in special and esoteric experiences such as the speaking in unknown tongues, or sundry dreams and visions through which it is claimed that the Lord God has spoken. However, we have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. (II.Peter 1:19-20). These experiences can be terrible liars; they have deceived many. We call the church back to that more sure word of prophecy to which we are told to take heed. For so many, if they sought to understand the Word of God with the same fervor that they employ in seeking out esoteric experiences, they would not be so easily taken in by every false prophet that comes along.
Thus, reason, tradition, and experience; however valuable as tools; may not be used in and of themselves as authorities; for they are false authorities; and the false prophets who demand allegiance to these false authorities teach nothing but error mixed with enough truth to make the error palatable to the uninformed and gullible. The Order of St. Andrew shall seek positive change particularly in this area of Scriptural authority.
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. (II.Peter 2:1-3).
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Some Miscellaneous Thoughts:
We believe in reconciliation of all races and kindreds; yet we do not believe that such reconciliation lies in appeasement, reparations, or the perpetuation of resentment by one group or another. True Christian love and tolerant sentimentality are two completely different things. To be sentimentally tolerant of error (especially in the church) is most unloving toward our brothers and sisters in Christ, our neighbors, and even our enemies and the world.
For example, to tell the homosexual that the practice of his/her sexual preference is nothing more than an acceptable alternative lifestyle is most unloving, for it encourages the habitual sinner guilty of such abomination before God to continue in that sin and abomination unabated; indeed with our tacit blessing. Many denominations now conduct blessing ceremonies for homosexual unions. This is a terrible error on the part of the liberal church. Instead, the Order calls upon the church to tell it like it is from the Word of God, and thus sincerely call for the repentance of those trapped in this habitual sin.
Likewise, many denominations support abortion on demand, calling it the right of a woman to choose. It is most unloving to sanction this practice in any way when the Word of God is so clear. Murder is not and has never been a right. We call for the end of abortion on demand.
There are many other issues and concerns being presently addressed by the Order of St. Andrew.
Go back to our HOME PAGE to contact us by e-mail with any questions, comments, or inquiries!
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