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MISCONCEPTIONS

of Christianity

How the Bible Proves All Things

John Marcus

Tate Publishing & Enterprises

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Misconceptions of Christianity: How the Bible Proves All Things

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the author except as provided by USA copyright law.

e opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of Tate Publishing, LLC.

is book is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered. is information is given with the understanding that neither the author nor Tate Publishing, LLC is engaged in rendering legal, professional advice. Since the details of your situation are fact dependent, you should additionally seek the services of a competent professional.

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ISBN: 978-1-61663-739-2
1. Religion / Biblical Commentary / General 2. Religion / Christian Church / General 10.08.06

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table of Contents

Introduction

7 Correctly Interpreting the Scriptures

11 Be a Berean

31 Proving the Scriptures authoritative

49 The purpose of Jesus Christ

69 One Way

83 Tithing

93 Legalism

101 Water Baptism

115 Catholic Mary

119 The Mass

127 Tongues

139 Self-Esteem, Self-Love

147 Demon Possession

163 Prosperity

171 Slaying in the Spirit

199 Replacement Theology

203 In respect of holIdays

217 Evolution vs CreatIon

233 What a christian can get away with doIng

241 Eternal Security

249 Soulish

271 conclusion

293

Introduction

The purpose of this book is to give a proper perspective on what some Christians teach and what the Word of God teaches. Many Christians have been incorrectly interpreting and applying the scriptures. For example, I heard a pastor teach from 1 Corinthians 13:13, saying faith is the greatest gift from God. Reading the whole text in that scripture, the scripture says, “but the greatest of these is love.” Teachers are twisting scripture in a way that favors their preconceived ideas to promote a worldview like prosperity teachings. Here are some reasons: first they were taught this way; the second is they don’t read the scriptures in full context to have understanding; and the third is for motive to benefit themselves and their beliefs. Incorrect teachings are taught in churches, in Christian colleges, and on Christian television; many people have had their faith destroyed because they trusted the application of these teachers, and when the results did not become evident, particularly healings and prosperity, they were left empty and defeated. I am not saying all these teachers are heretics, but as the Corinthian believers were childish, Paul wrote to correct them.

The reason I wrote this book is because I was one of those persons who, many times, heard and saw the things shared in this book, in the pulpit, in the church, and talking with believers. Though I knew a lot of scripture, I did not know how to prove they were incorrect in their understanding and deeds. So with more understanding and more assurance of the Word of God, I share what I know.

The purpose of this book is to give the believer some understanding as to what is taught, and the ability to discern incorrect teaching and to cast it off as such. The other reason is that whoever learns to rightly divide the Word of God shall, with patience, give instruction to those who would oppose themselves with incorrect teaching and understanding as Paul shares with Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:24–26.

For the unbeliever reading this book, this may give you some understanding as to why there is such diversity in the church and why there are different beliefs. Paul wrote (1 Corinthians 11:18–19) that some of these issues prove the truth of Scripture and reveal who is truly following the truth of Scripture. There is no perfect church, if there was a perfect church, the church would cease to be on the earth; for the true church would be with Christ, clothed with immortality and perfected in heaven, until Christ comes with the church to bring everlasting righteousness in the earth, and Jesus sits enthrone in Jerusalem, where every person, tribe and nation shall bow the knee to Him.

I hope this book will bring a greater desire not to be taught of man; but be taught of God. I believe if we read the scriptures in a proper method, with the Holy Spirit revealing the mind of God through the scriptures, you will not be led astray or fall prey to a cult, or to some illusion that you are a god, or some special anointed prophet. Ephesians 4 states that apostles,

prophets, evangelist, pastors, and teachers are for the perfecting of the saints. They are not the way, the truth, or the life; Jesus is. Jesus said, the Word of God speaks about eternal life, and speak of Him ( John 5:39); He is the Word of God who gives life. Jesus said the Holy Spirit will lead you into all truth (John 16).

We should be in fellowship and obey those in authority over us, for these pastors have to give an account before God; but these men are as fallible as anyone else. Consider if you are on a four lane highway; you and another car are stopped at the trafic light. The light turns green, the driver to the side of you chooses to go, but suddenly halts because it was a green arrow for the turning lane, yet you continue on, prompted by the action of the other driver. You enter into the traffic and are smashed by the vehicle that has the right of way. Who is going to get the ticket? Who is going to pay the penalty for failure to prove all things? The problem is that you chose to follow the vehicle to the side in place of obeying the traffic light. Jesus said, “If the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.”

Therefore, let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober (1 Thessalonians 5:6).

For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be lled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualfied us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love (Colossians 1:9–13).

Correctly interpreting the Scriptures

My first encouragement to any person reading this book is to read the Bible yourself and rightly divide or interpret the scriptures, wherein you may grow in the knowledge of God, of the nature of man, and your purpose and service to God. God spoke to Joshua:

After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’s assistant, saying “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them–the chil- dren of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you

all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:1–9

God was telling Joshua that his success depended on his reaction to what God had written in His Bible. In Joshua’s case, it was the Pentateuch, but the application is the same. God is saying, to us that what He wrote and put together as the scriptures are for your success and to do His bidding; just be bold and courageous. If you are not reading and devotionally seeking to hear what God wants you to know of Him daily, you are doing yourself and others a disservice. The reason I say this is because it is the Word of God daily entering into our lives that keeps us on the straight and narrow path. We have no excuse for not having a Bible and not seeking God’s face daily. We are the most blessed of opportunity and have a great time of ease. We just like to make excuses about our busy engagements, and this is exactly what Satan wants us to do, neglect the Word of God.

It was the Word of God that Jesus quoted to refute Satan’s temptations in the wilderness. It was Jesus’s understanding of Scripture, which He used to correct the Pharisees and Sadducees when they misinterpreted Scripture. We should not use the excuse that Jesus is God and knows the truth, to say we cannot have understanding of Scripture. Jesus is God but He became a servant to be led with the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness, reminded Him of Scripture, and led Him all those years of ministry for the service of the Father. We can be led with the Holy Spirit, and reminded of Scripture for the service of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. If Jesus needed the Holy Spirit to lead Him into truth concerning the scriptures, then how much more we do? (John 16:13)

I encourage you now, make a plan, get a plan, do not make it dificult, do not be legalistic over reading; but be passionate in seeking to know God through the truth of the scriptures, for it will perfect your life and give you the ability to have an answer for every man of the hope within you. The Word of God will stabilize your walk; it will make your ups and downs in life a level field. The Word of God will cleanse a man from sin and guide a person when in need. If you haven’t done so today and are reading this book, then bookmark this page, pick up your Bible, repent, ask God for forgiveness in neglecting His Word, pray, and seek what God wants to teach you.

One thing I want to say about Scripture reading is that there is a difference between studying the Word of God and devotionally reading the Word of God. Too many of us, when studying the Word of God, are checking references and scriptures all over the Bible and reading commentators who we think can give us some insight to what the Scripture is saying. This is fine, but

in a relationship, do you first learn who a person is by contacting others before entering into a relationship. No, you sit before each other and seek to know one another; you ask each other questions and such. Devotional reading knows God shall speak through His Word. Now I will say right here, if you are reading devotionals more than what God can speak to you through His Word, you are using it as a replacement to God. It is like how God spoke from the mountain in Exodus 20, and the people wanted to not hear God’s voice so they wanted Moses to speak in God’s behalf. Today, Jesus speaks to us. The Hebrew writer wrote: “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds” (Hebrews 1:1– 2). There is nothing wrong with devotionals, but they are man’s thoughts. Devotionals by Christian authors can be applicable to our life, and can be used to keep us on tract in interpreting Scripture, but should never be a replacement to what God can speak to us. If we are doing this, we have done exactly what Israel did to God by asking to hear the Word of God through Moses in place of hearing God’s voice (Exodus 20). Just as God commanded Joshua, so it is with us. If we chose to live off of devotional books, we will fall prey to whatever comes into our path in the Christian circle and is always looking for a new thing to tantalize. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We do not need a new thing; we need a consistent relationship of hearing and understanding what He says to us today, tomorrow, and forever in His Word. Jesus said, “For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.”

When devotionally reading, have a piece of paper handy, or even your computer, to write down what the scriptures are teaching you. Meditate on God’s Word and write what God is speaking to you through the scriptures. During your study, you can look at other scriptures, but discipline yourself from getting distracted into different teachings of Scripture. Stay in the content of what is taught. You may look up some Greek or Hebrew words, or even names, but stick to the text God is trying to relay to you. Later that day, you may want to study more in–depth of what you read that morning. This is the place of in–depth study of God’s Word.

Here is an example of a devotional study I recently did. Sometimes, when I sit down before the Lord, I first open my journal and write down what I am thinking or feeling, and then I may go to the scriptures. For example, I was reading in 2 Chronicles, which is one of the books people avoid (and I used to also), but I find it enriching. I was reading chapter twenty-three where Jehoiada raised up Joash, son of Ahaziah, to become king at the age of seven. I read the scriptures and I copy and paste the scriptures that speak out most to me. If I am distracted in reading, I read them again. These are the scriptures I wrote in my journal. I usually highlight the parts of Scripture that speak to me, but here I italicized them.

September 22, 2009

Lord, I want my thoughts to be pure; I want a heart like David after your heart.

2 Chronicles 23:1 And in the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself, and took the captains of hundreds, Azariah the son of Jeroham, and Ishmael the son of

Jehohanan, and Azariah the son of Obed, and Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri, into covenant with him.

2 Chronicles 23:6 But let none come into the house of the Lord, save the priests, and they that minister of the Levites; they shall go in, for they are holy: but all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord.

2 Chronicles 23:16 And Jehoiada made a covenant between him, and between all the people, and between the king, that they should be the Lord’s people.

2 Chronicles 23:17: Then all the people went to the house of Baal, and brake it down, and brake his altars and his images in pieces, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars.

2 Chronicles 23:21: And all the people of the land rejoiced: and the city was quiet, after that they had slain Athaliah with the sword.

It is good to strengthen myself in the Lord, to do the right thing. Life may not be always victorious as others following my example as it was here in Judah, but one thing, I have chosen the right path of Christ. I am to minister before the Lord as a priest and I am to watch for the Lord just as the people are; Jesus said, “Watch and pray.” I will choose to minster to the Lord in prayer and to watch for His soon return, keeping myself pure. I need to make those decisions to rid my life of the Baal’s and idols that distract me from the Lord, so I may rejoice and have quiet in my own city of peace (Jerusalem); my heart, my home, and my life.

Notice that I remember other scriptures that speak to me about the passages I read. 1 Peter 2 says, “I am a royal priesthood.” Jesus did say, “Watch and pray” in Mark 14:38, and 1 John 3:2–3 speaks about staying pure knowing He shall return. Notice I made it personal for my life, to apply it to me and what I am suppose to do.

Now there are many different Bible programs, and daily Scripture reading programs, try to find one that will suit you and your time. When I first came to the Lord, all I did in my free time was read the scriptures, then as I lost opportunity, I made my own Scripture reading plan: two chapters of Old Testament, one chapter of the Psalms or Proverbs, and five chapters of the New Testament. This gave me the opportunity to go through the Old Testament twice, the Psalms and Proverbs twice, and the New Testament five times in the year. This was very good for knowledge, but not for understanding. At some point, it became a burden and not a delight; so now I do more understanding of what I read. “What do you mean,” you ask? I say that I purposely read a text of Scripture until I know specically what God wants to say to me. Many times while reading, we can get distracted, so I make it a point to read the text again and again. Why do I do this? Because one day as I was reading scriptures, I read about afflictions and sufferings? I passed right over the issue of suffering, for the joy of other scriptures that comforted me. On that day, it was a day totally about suffering and afflictions, it was a day that was very frustrating and it was incomprehensible that it would be that way. Later that night, I chose to read the same scriptures I read that morning. Not surprising to God, but surprising to me, when I read those scriptures about afliction and suffering, I knew I had missed what God wanted to say to me

that day. God knows what we are going to read, and knows what we are dealing with.

Be faithful to read all the books of the Bible. There are many treasures in Scripture and all we need to do is be diligent to search and God shall reward us for our diligence.

It was the Word of God, which I read for myself, that eventually led to my salvation. I went to a church, but the church did not believe the inerrancy of Scripture and did not believe that honoring God’s Word was important. The church was teaching about love, forgiveness, and all types of other things, yet they neglected the power of God to save someone through the blood of Jesus Christ. They neglected to teach that Jesus could set a person free from the power of sin. They neglected prophesy, which proves that Jesus is the Messiah come into the world to purchase man from the penalty of sin and give them a living hope of life in eternity with Jesus Christ.

If you look at Scripture, there are many things you may not understand concerning things like sacrfices, why Abraham was going to sacrfice his son Isaac, why God commanded Israel to exterminate the Canaanites and such. You may not understand why God allowed such wicked kings to reign, and why God allowed other nations to enslave the Israelites. You may not understand all the battles and fighting in Israel, nor understand why God deported the Jews out of Israel and sent them to Babylon. If you read the scriptures in light of what God has done for us concerning Jesus Christ, you then get understanding that Jesus was the true sacrifice for sin, and the sacrifices in the Old Testament were a picture of Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world ( John 1:29). If you look at Scripture concerning Abraham and Isaac, you see a father and son. John 3:16 is the fulfllment of that type; for God the Father

so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son Jesus into the world, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. If you look at the issue of sin enslaving a believer and the need to get rid of sin in a person’s life, then you can understand why God wanted Israel to exterminate the Canaanites, for they were a picture of the sin that would keep the believer from living free in Jesus Christ. If you see how Israel failed to rid themselves of the Canaanites, you see they did exactly what God commanded them not to do, and fell into idolatry. The Canaanites enslaving them is as sin does, and when Israel realized their sin, they repented and God delivered them. God warned Israel in Deuteronomy 28 that if Israel would walk in His ways, they would be blessed, but if they did not, they would eventually be deported out of their land where they would not want to be.

The Bible is full of prophesy, types, allegories, and pictures. All these things have some literal fulfllment. Many times we do not understand what God wants to do in our lives so He gives us pictures. God gave the scriptures to teach us; He gave us stories and types of our wickedness, so we may understand our depraved nature to go after impurities. He gave us the scriptures proving we cannot save ourselves. God then told us that He would save us through a sacrifice; this sacrifice was His Son, to pay the penalty for our sin so that we may have life. There is not a story or type in the Old Testament that will not be fulfilled. The Jews believed between every letter and every dot and title there was a message from God, and there most likely is, but the issue is to understand what God has already done for us and to understand that He has more for us. When you do not understand an issue or something seems impossible to believe, do not just cast it off as an allegory. Ask for wisdom from God who gives it liberally.

Jesus said:

And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake, whom He chose, He shortened the days.

Mark 13:20

Who would have ever known that this was a literal prophesy. In this age we now have the ability to destroy all flesh with nuclear weapons, over and over again. Now we are to use our heads. When Jesus said:

If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

Matthew 5:29–30

Jesus doesn’t mean this literally, for even if you cut the right hand off, and pluck out the right eye, you can still sin with the left. Jesus is teaching us the need to pay attention to what we are doing. If you offend, then do something extreme to not do it again. If you have a problem with porn on the Internet, then get rid of the computer; if drinking or drugs, then get rid of the alcohol and drugs and then get rid of the relationships that cause you to fail. Do something extreme to get rid of sin that will enslave you. Jesus came to set us free from besetting sins. God

gave us a brain, we need to use it, and think about what He is saying, yet do not trivialize any of it.

Here is another example of studying the scriptures correctly: the scripture that says a woman is to have a covering upon her head (1 Corinthians 11:3–16); many churches believe this is a command of God, and the scripture does say that, but if you read the scriptures in context, you find Paul said: “But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God” (1 Corinthians 11:16).

I know I will not most likely speak about this again in the book, but this is just one of the misconceptions taught in Christianity.

We need to get this into our understanding; chapter and verses were added to help a scripture be cited and assessed more easily. They were not used for separating content. If we read a book of the Bible one chapter at a time in place of reading it like any other book, we will most likely never get the full picture.

I had a person say that Jesus sinned when he turned over the money changers’ tables; believing He was without self control. If you read the whole text (Mark 11:1–19), you see Jesus entered into Jerusalem and into the temple the night before and saw all that was happening in the Temple (verse 11). It was the next day that Jesus, with zeal for His own house, turned over the money changers’ tables, and kept people from carrying vessels into the Temple area. The Temple rulers were making the temple a place of commerce, choosing to abuse God’s command to make His place of worship. This man refused to search the scriptures to prove Jesus never sinned; he let his misconception hinder him.

The encouragement for every person is to become a student of the scriptures, rightly dividing the Word of truth.

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

The issue is to not be ashamed. If we studied for a test a month in advance and studied all night before the test and still failed, would we not be confounded and ashamed? During that time of study, we should have known what problems we were dealing with and sought help in tutoring or reexamined our method of preparation. This is what pastors and teachers are for (Ephesians 4:11–16), they are there to help us understand the Scriptures. The tutor helps us understand the method and why it works, then gives the practical tools to do it ourselves.

The two disciples of Jesus on the road to Emmaus were brought to shame because they failed to understand that Jesus must have suffered according to Scripture (Luke 24). In Matthew 22, Jesus corrected the Sadducees for their misunderstanding of the Scriptures and the power of God. In John 5, Jesus said they searched the scriptures but failed to see they testified of Him.

I remember in high school geometry, I was failing all year. Geometry is the part of mathematics concerned with shapes and sizes. A shape could be a square, a rectangle, a triangle, an acute triangle, a parallelogram, etc. Now think about a square. The definition of a square is that all four sides have to be of equal length, that the two opposite sides have to be parallel, and the two opposing sides of the others have to be parallel, and that all four corners must be right angles of ninety degrees. Since I went in for tutoring, the teacher taught me to prove a square was a square, and had me write it out. The problem wasn’t that I didn’t know it was a square, but it was that I needed to know how to

prove it. Since I learned properly to study geometry, I received a 92 percent grade in my regent examination.

This is why, concerning God, Jesus Christ, and doctrine, we use the scriptures to prove a matter. God’s Word proves that He wrote this Bible not by selfish means of men, but through prophets who wrote this Bible as they were told by the Holy Spirit. Peter even speaks that these words of prophesy have even a greater testimony than his experience on the Mount of Transfiguration.

And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

2 Peter 1:18–21

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:16–17

To benefit our understanding of God, to take heed to His concerns and will, we need to have the scriptures placed into our being so that we may be mature in God’s plan and direction for

our lives as His children. Let us study for the great examination before God’s throne; for on that day we shall not be ashamed, but be rewarded for our diligence in having sought Him and found Him, hearing those words, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord.”

Now I am going to give you some thoughts and questions to apply when studying the scriptures. These are only a few examples of what could be asked and thought of during your studies. This is an inductive way to study. Inductive means to come to a conclusion by what has been said, as opposed to starting with a premise. A person is inducted in the hall of fame by his or her accomplishments. It is the same with the Word of God. You study the text and draw a conclusion based upon what is said. One method of inductive study that Dan Finfrock of ICM min- istries put together helped me to study the scriptures without all the commentaries and disciplined me to study the scriptures. I highly recommend going through his method of Inductive Bible study.

Here are some thoughts to aid your study.

tools to have:

A Bible you can understand
An exhaustive concordance (Greek and Hebrew

meanings)
A Bible dictionary
Maps
A dictionary
Additional translations
Paper and a pen
A journal

priorities before studying the bible:

Prayer: Ask God for wisdom, ask for the infilling of the Holy Spirit
A cleansed mind and heart
Forgiveness for sin
A willingness to submit to what is taught

Questions to ask:

Who?
What?
Where?
When?
How?
What does this mean?
What does this word or phrase mean?
Does this apply to me?
How can this apply to me?
Have I taken into consideration the whole message?
Meditate on the passage (think about it, pray about it,

memorize it) Meditate means to chew on it, like chew-

ing the cud, chewing it for a long time!
Who wrote the book?
Why was it written?
What significance or importance is there about the

writer?
When was it written?
What happened?
What didn’t happen?
What would Jesus do?
Why was it written in the scriptures?

20. Is there a story or illustration in the Bible concerning this?

What not to do studying the bible:

Make one scripture a whole doctrine.
Verses and chapters were not part of Bible, read the

whole passage until there is another subject or story. Example 1: “Jane went to market.” This is only part of the story. The rest of the story or message is, “Jane went to market to buy medicine for her mother, because she was ill.” Example 2: John 3:16, “God so loved the world,” what is the rest of the verse?
Do not read the text only once.
Do not quit reading passages of scripture in context just

because there is a chapter break.

What can you do With the Bible?

Pray over the verses you are studying
Sing the scriptures (musicians)
Do word studies. Example: Meditate look up all the

verses in the Bible that say meditate, meditation, pon-

der, or think.
Compare stories or passages to similar stories or pas-

sages. Example: John 14:21, 1 John 3:24.
The study and reading of the scriptures is worship.

Here is a sample:

Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

Psalm 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.

Psalm 1:3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

Psalm 1:4 The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

Psalm 1:5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

Psalm 1:6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish .

askthe Questions:

Who? The man that does not walk with the ungodly.
What? They are blessed, what does blessed mean? O’

how happy; they will delight.
Why? Meditates in the law; whose law? God’s.
When? When he meditates.
How? By meditation.
What is counsel? Advice.
What is the path of sinners? Wickedness, rebellion to

God’s laws.
What is the seat of the scornful? Relaxing, having a

place in their presence in rejecters or unbelievers.
What is the blessed man like? A well–watered tree

bearing fruit, his ways shall prosper. What kind of fruit?

What does it mean to walk? What we do and say, where we go, how we live our lives ungodly or godly. Amnon took counsel of a friend and it led to fulfilling sin, 2 Samuel 13:1–22. In agreement with (Amos 3:3: Can two walk together, except they be agreed?).
What does it mean to stand? Example: Peter stood at the fire warming his hands, with people that were to crucify Jesus his Lord.
What does it mean to sit? Comfortable where you are.
What are the ungodly like? Chaff.
What is chaff? The outside kernel of wheat.
What happens to chaff? It is blown away and burned or

discarded, thrown away.
Where will they not stand? In the judgment.
What does “In the judgment” mean? They have nothing to stand on, their merits or good works, they will have to bow down, the saint has already bowed down and received salvation, the ungodly are too late
What will happen to the ungodly? Perish.
Who does God know? The ways of the righteous.
Who are the righteous? This may be where you do a

Word study, Romans 3:22; 4:3–6.
If there is a judgment, what role does God play? A

judge.
What does the Bible say concerning God as a judge?

God is just. Deuteronomy 32:4: He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are judgment; a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He.
What other role does God play? A King. Can a king judge? God is a judge, and as king, has the ability to save or to kill. Ester 4:11; Ester 5:1–2.

How can I apply these verses?

I will live in the world but not live like the world; I will not be comfortable living in a state of sin, or watching and accepting sin being performed before me. I will set my standard of living according to the Scriptures and give honor and preference to what God wants for my life.

May the Lord bless your study of His Word, for He will reward the diligent (Hebrews 11:6). If you need tutoring, seek an Inductive Bible study class in your church, online, in a book, or at a Bible college.

Books to have or a good Bible computer program:Inductive Study by ICM Ministries; Dan Finfrock

Power Bible CD–Rom: This has most of all you see below and more.

Halley’s Bible Handbook

A Strong’s Exhaustive Bible Concordance

A Bible dictionary

A Bible Atlas with charts and time tables

A good reference Bible: Thompson chain, Sco eld, or Ryrie may be a thought

Maybe even a “How to Study the Bible” book

Be a Berean

I spoke about being a student and not being ashamed; we need to prove all things. I failed in geometry until I proved it, so it is with the Scriptures. When I speak about being a Berean, I am speaking about the people of Berea in Macedonia, for they did not just believe the words of Paul concerning the Gospel, but proved them through the Scriptures.

Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more fair–minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Acts 17:10–11

I speak about being a Berean because we should obey our pastors and teachers concerning the Scriptures; for they watch over us because they will give an account (Hebrews 13:17). Yet, this by no means gives us the right to be foolish and not prove

what the pastor teaches. If we can’t prove through the Scriptures what our pastor is teaching, then we may be following him to our own destruction. Why do I say this? Because Paul said it, and it is demonstrated on many Christian TV programs. They peddle their philosophy to manipulate people into giving.

“For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ,” 2 Corinthians 2:17 kjv

Paul said:

Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. 1 Timothy 4:1–6

But know this, that in the last days, perilous times will come:

“For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self–control, brutal, despisers of good, trai- tors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; but they will progress no further, for their folly will be mani- fest to all, as theirs also was. But you have carefully fol- lowed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long- suffering, love, perseverance.” 2 Timothy 3:1–10

Paul thought it important to warn Timothy and the believers that there was deception in the church. Paul said to the Ephesian Church that even among their own ranks, wolves would come in not sparing the flock of God (Acts 20). Paul thought it was important to know doctrine and to hold to such doctrine as the Scriptures prove.

As the Trinity is a doctrine of Christianity, but it is not a word found in the Bible, it is proved over and over again in Scripture. Here is just an example, in Matthew 3, where the Father and Holy Spirit were involved in the baptism of Jesus the Son of God. Matthew 28, where the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all acknowledged with honor in the baptism of a believer. You can also look at Genesis 1:26 and 3:22; look up the word

“God” in Hebrew and it is the word or can be translated “gods” so the word elohim has the inspiration of a plural unity. Ask the question, who is God speaking to as “Us”? How can God be plural and one? Look at scriptures concerning Jesus; Hebrews 1:8. There are still more scriptures that prove it. Prove the trinity yourself. What does God say about himself? Who does Jesus claim to be, and who is the Holy Spirit spoken of as?

Now back to the reason to be a Berean. The Apostle John in his first epistle said:

Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life. These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as

it has taught you, you will abide in Him. And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have con dence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him. 1 John 2:18–29

Even John says there were some among them that were hanging out with the believers but had departed for they were not really believers. Just as Judas was among the disciples of Jesus, doing healings and teaching what Jesus taught him, he did not sincerely believe, for if Judas was a true disciple, he would have stayed with Jesus as Peter did, knowing Jesus had the words of eternal life (John 6:68). You find in John 6 that many disciples could not handle what Jesus taught and walked away. It is man’s concepts that get in the way, and many pastors, Christian colleges and teachers have criticized the Scriptures in favor of their own concepts, rather than knowing the power of God. They have fallen prey to misunderstanding the Scriptures just as the Sadducees and Pharisees did.

The reason I write this chapter for us to be Berean is threefold. The first reason is to prove all things, so we will not be foolish. The second reason is so you can prove your pastor to be scripturally sound. The third reason is so that you will examine yourself according to Scripture.

When it comes to Christian teaching, many Christians believe whatever is spoken from the pulpit. Why is this? Because we do not believe man is basically evil. Most people, when asked, believe man is basically good; but in reality, when compared to God, we are evil for we judge according to our standards in place of God’s. When you read the Old Testament, you find over and

over again that the leaders of Israel were leading the people to idolatry and failing to teach their children the ways of the Lord, leading Israel to the moral decline of sinking deeper into wicked idolatry to even sacrifice their own children to idols.

This is exactly why we need to study the Scriptures for ourselves. We need to be like the Bereans, who openly received what Paul taught by proving it through the Scriptures. We should not be attending a church and placing our children in the Sunday school program unless we know what the pastor and church teach. It is good to visit and evaluate the church to see how the church works and what is taught. Many times we can get the church’s statement of faith from the back cover of the program sheet, from the welcome packet, or by checking the Web site; yet what is taught in the pulpit or classes can still be contrary to Scripture. Now we may find a church that is scripturally sound, but not exactly mature in their faith. The members may be like those of the Corinthian church, who were immature in the faith. We will never find a perfect church, but do find a church that is sincere to prove all things through the Scriptures.

The issue I bring up is that we should not be pretentious that all churches teach truth; many have some truth, but neglect most truth. If we find a church is ashamed to mention Jesus, teach about the blood of Christ, or speak about sin because these teachings are offensive to non–believers and some of the congregation, this is probably the church you do not want to attend. For if they will neglect confessing Jesus before man in the church, what else are they neglecting for the benefit of the saints to grow in Christ? Evangelism is important for unbelievers to come to Christ, but so is teaching the Scriptures for the perfecting of the saints. Do not believe that just because everyone is friendly and very family oriented that they are sound in faith. Many people

go to a church because they have good programs for kids and they are very friendly, but this does not mean they are saved, many cults do the same. I visited a church where a pastor taught that the God of Christianity, of the Jews, and of the Muslims was the same god. The pastor believed that because each faith taught one god, then they were the same.

I encourage you to make a questionnaire concerning a church you are attending. Know your pastor and elders; know what they believe. Challenge them in their faith and ask them what they believe. A pastor, elder, or leader in the church—even your children’s church teacher—should have an answer of what they believe and should not be ashamed to prove it, or to be examined to know they are Christians. As a children’s church teacher, I have had parents come in and see what I am teaching. Yet, in most cases, parents who have been attending services for awhile, have never come to meet me or know what I have been teaching their child.

I once sent a questionnaire to a pastor and these are the questions I asked:

Dear Pastor,

I am writing to question what you believe concerning your relationship with God. Please do not answer these questions according to what the church believes, but what you believe. I would like to know what you believe and teach.

Do you believe that the Word of God (Bible) is the iner- rant Word of God, inspired by the Holy Ghost, penned by holy men of God?

Do you believe the stories (like Jonah and the great fish) in the Bible are literal or are they illustrations just trying to teach us lessons?

Do you believe that there is more than one way to get to Heaven?

Do you believe the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and what is the gospel?

Do you believe in a literal Heaven and Hell? How do you believe a person becomes saved? through water baptism
through confirmation

through faith in Christ Jesus

through grace and not by works

What do you think about the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Is the baptism for today or not? How do you know that you have the gifts of the Holy Spirit?

Do you believe Jesus is literally returning to reign on the earth, according to his words, and Revelation?

Can the people or parishioners in the congregation read the Word of God, and have an understanding of the Word of God, because of the Holy Spirit and Christ in their life?

Do you believe the Word of God pertains to today? Is the Word of God sufficient to minister to hurting people or do we need mans philosophies to relate to man?

Thank You John Marcus

The reply I received back was, “John, I see you have problems, and I would be glad to meet with you further concerning these issues.”

There was a well–known TV preacher who I shall name as Pastor RJ. Pastor RJ had a very positive message of God helping people; but when challenged by a TV show host, Pastor RJ could not give an answer concerning whether Muslims would be going to heaven. Pastor RJ could only answer, “I cannot judge someone’s heart. I cannot make a judgment on who is going to hell or heaven; I let God make that choice.” Pastor RJ was too ashamed to confess what Jesus taught concerning Jesus being the Way, the Truth, and the Life and no man gets to the Father but through Him (John 14:6). Didn’t Pastor RJ understand what Jesus was teaching? When unbelievers, Jews, and Muslims can read his books and there is no conviction of the need for salvation through Jesus Christ alone and only read this positive message that God loves them and accepts them as unrepentant sinners, he is leading them to hell. Pastor RJ even neglected the mandate of Christ to preach the gospel unto all men and to teach all believers to observe all things that He had commanded (Matthew 28). To deny that Jesus is the only way is to give the idea to man that there is another way, and that will eventually lead them to hell. Pastor RJ doesn’t seem to understand that sin separates us from a relationship with God. Jesus came to pay that penalty of sin, and restore that relationship; unless there is repentance and the forsaking of sin, there is no relationship with God. Pastor RJ preaches a prosperity doctrine that is not scrip-

tural. Pastor RJ preaches the focus of God is for you meaning the focus of self, and not for us to serve God (Ephesians 1:12). Even though Pastor RJ talks about God and uses Scripture; the focus of his message is you. He is one of the preachers on TV who promotes the love of self, which the Apostle Paul warned us about (2 Timothy 3:1–7).

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

John 3:16

“He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

John 3:36

What does Pastor RJ think about these scriptures? Pastor RJ seemly would rather sidestep the truth and avoid both confrontation and loss of book sales.

Pastor RJ is only one of the false teachers in this generation who say they believe, but deny the true message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I truly hope that Pastor RJ will see the light of truth in the Scriptures and repent and know the power of Jesus Christ. This is why I want to challenge you to test every spirit, whether it is from God or not.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit

of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 1 John 4:1–6

John says to test or prove every spirit whether they believe, what they believe, and who they believe. What do you believe about Jesus’ second coming? What do you believe concerning the tribulation? Is the knowledge of God through Jesus Christ the greatest attainment that you can have? Paul thought so when he wrote:

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected;

but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 2:8–14

Jesus said:

Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, “Lord,Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” Matthew 7:21–23

“For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” Matthew 24:24

What does this teach you concerning many that say they are following Christ Jesus? I knew a pastor who wrote a letter to congregates and others instructing them not to search Scriptures to prove whether or not a certain movement happening in the church was doctrinal. He did not want people to miss this

so–called revival happening. Wouldn’t we want to make sure the pastor or teacher we are following is walking according to God’s doctrines? I knew a pastor who was listening to false prophets, saying they knew the specific day of Jesus’ return; he was confused by such a claim and whether it was true. I knew a church whose congregation was handing out pamphlets saying eightyeight reasons why Jesus is coming in 1988. Some people were maxing their credit cards and buying recreational vehicles. Then, when Jesus did not come on that day, they were left with the bill.

We will do well if we follow Jesus as Paul followed Jesus. Paul is the type of pastor, elder, or Bible teacher we want to follow; who warns us of false teachings and teachers giving us the whole counsel of God. Not that our church leaders have attained to Paul, but hopefully with full assurance of Christ in them, they can say to you, “Follow me as I follow Jesus.” These are the words you want to hear.

Now let’s consider the challenge to examine ourselves. As I said, we should study to show ourselves approved rightly dividing the Word of Truth. We need to be like the Bereans. If we do this and walk according to Scripture, and apply His Word to our life; examining our life is easy.

Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you are disqualified? 2 Corinthians 13:5

These are sobering words from Paul, to say that you are disqualified if Christ is not in you. Consider again what I said about studying for a test and failing, if you fail to evaluate your walk,

you will fail your test. The issue is in knowing what we believe of Christ Jesus and the Scriptures. We can find good books concerning doctrines of Christianity, but those are not all we need to establish in our life. If we think we can live our life any way we want, though we say we believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are deceiving ourselves. I say this, because Jesus died for the very purpose to set us free from the power of sin, so that we may live by the power His resurrection in us? Jesus paid a high price to purchase our life and to give us salvation. Why would we live in the old nature and abuse the grace of God (Romans 6)?

Knowing what the Scriptures teach will set us free from sin. When we live in the victory of Christ and live as a disciple of Jesus Christ, we will be free. Knowing the truth will give us full assur- ance of our salvation. Look at scriptures like John 8:31–36 and 1 John 5:1–5, 13.

It is good to know doctrine, but the difference is in bringing knowledge to your heart and knowing intimately the knowledge of God within us. Many religious Christian teachers can quote Scripture and teach Scripture, but some still have no love for God intimately. We should not let eighteen inches be the longest distance for us to have knowledge with love for God. Eighteen inches is the approximate distance from our brain to our heart.

I have to ask, can we prove we are saved, washed by the blood of Jesus, by using the Scriptures? Can we prove that Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah through the Old Testament Scriptures? I am not saying that we have to know every scripture, but can we prove our knowledge through the scriptures rather than saying, “I know Jesus saved me because He lives within my heart”? The unbeliever cannot see Christ in us. They may see our life changed by the power of Jesus Christ. Yet, just as Peter said, we have a more sure word of proof, which is prophecy (2 Peter 1:19–21). You need

to know the assurance of salvation, you need to know the proof of Jesus as Messiah, and you need the proof of Jesus’s second coming. I was one of those who could not prove these things. The world is not going to believe our ignorance of the truth without proof.

The believer who is unconcerned with proving their salvation in Christ is complacent and lacks understanding and he will always live his life as the fool who built his house on sand rather than on the solid foundation of Jesus the Rock (Matthew 7:24–27). Whenever tribulation comes and Satan looks to sift the Christian as wheat, the weak Christian will believe that Jesus had left him and abandoned him. He may choose to become choked by the cares of this world (Matthew 13:18–23). I have seen many Christians, even those having doctrinal teaching, never come to a solid life in Christ and still wondering if they’re saved; fearful they may miss Jesus rapturing them to heaven and will be left behind in the great tribulation. I have seen many adults give their lives to Christ and the world choked them out. Many children I have taught in children’s church as teens served in the church later when liberated on their own, or in college gave up on God and fell away from the faith. Yes, they may have never really asked Jesus into their hearts. One thing is for sure, they know Scripture, but not in their hearts. Hopefully the Word of God will take root in their hearts and return them to Jesus.

We should make it our life practice to know God through prayer, the Word, and season our life in fellowship with the saints. God has called the church together so to encourage, exhort, and correct one another.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not

forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:23–25

Knowing the Word of God and having the hearing ear of God through prayer will help us to walk before God. We would know our adversary Satan is as a roaring lion, looking to devour whomever he can get his hands on (1 Peter 5:8). We would learn how to battle against his devices and stay in the love of God (Ephesians 6:10–18). We will become aware of when we are playing with sin and have the knowledge to walk away. We will know when we need to be sober and know that with every victory in Christ, Satan is looking for us to fail and will take that opportunity when we let down our guard. We will remember that with every temptation, God provides a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13). When we know that we have all the spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus and have all the divine power to live godly in Christ, we can live in that truth and not let sin have victory over us (Ephesians 1:3; 1 Peter 1:3).

Make it our life practice to be in the Word of God daily, in prayer daily, and in fellowship with the saints. Let the Word of God challenge us to holiness, to living a life for Him and His glory. When we let the Word of God rule in our heart—to convict, to encourage, and to exhort—we can continue in the faith looking for our redemption in the resurrection.

We should not only read books in the Bible that encourage us, but read all the books in the Bible. We should not skip over things that are hard or bring conviction. When I read the letters to the seven churches in Revelation, like when Jesus said to the Ephe-

sian Church, “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love,” I am sure to check my heart whether I have lost my love for Jesus. The Minor Prophets really challenge me to walk with God. I do not want to avoid my life falling prey to a mediocre relationship in Christ. Keeping a relationship strong and sure can overcome any rocky times.

Find a believer with the aim of being solid in faith that will encourage you and correct you if you are going the wrong way. This is accountability. It is good to have a person you can trust that will not coddle you, but give you honest truth of how they see your life, one that will pray for you and give you a phone call when not seeing you at service. Find a Paul who will disciple you and challenge you to excellence in Christ. This doesn’t mean the pastor or elder, it could be a deacon, an older person, or one older in the Lord, who has walked with Jesus a few years or more. They have knowledge of the Scriptures; they have experience. If you are married, be accountable to your spouse, but if he or she is not a Christian, then find a member in the church of the same sex. If you are married, find a couple in the church that would mentor your relationship with Christ and with each other. If you are single, you may want to find a mentor who is single of the same sex to be accountable to. It is good to have a friend who sticks closer than a brother, whom you can bounce thoughts and issues off of and they will not condemn you.

A few books I encourage you to read are Paul Little’s books,Know What you Believe and Know Why you Believe. Read The Case for Christ and The Case for Faith written by Lee Strobel, and if you like the in–depth reading, New Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell.

“Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” ( Jude 1:21 nkjv).

Proving the Scriptures Authoritative

There are many books written and even videos out there that explain how we received the Bible and give historical documentation to the validity of the Scriptures. These are good, and I will suggest some at the end of this chapter. Here I want to prove the validity of the Scripture only by the use of the Bible itself. I could probably write volumes of information proving each scripture and prophesy, but that would be unnecessary.

The Word of God needs no help from man to prove its validity. God Himself ensured the accuracy of Scripture by His Word. He placed commands to people that if they would change or alter the Scriptures He had written for the Jews and for the church, the very plagues He declared therein would be placed upon them.

You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Deuteronomy 4:2

Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it. Deuteronomy 12:32

For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. Revelation 22:18–19

The Jews were very particular in not altering the Scriptures. Bernard Ramm wrote in his book Protestant Christian Evidences,pages 230–231:

Jews preserve it as no other manuscript has ever been preserved. With the massora (parva, magna, and nalis) they kept tabs on every letter, syllable, word and paragraph. They had special classes of men within their culture whose sole duty was to preserve and transmit these documents with practically perfect delity—scribes, lawyers, massoretes. Whoever counted the letters and syllables and words of Plato or Aristotle? Cicero or Seneca?

We see the proof of Israel keeping the Word of God true by the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls in 1947. These scrolls which date from 200 b.c. to 70 a.d. and contain the entire book of Isaiah and all the other books of the Old Testament except Esther. In a careful study by Norman L. Geisler and William E. Nix, they reported that in one chapter of Isaiah, Chapter 53 with 166 words, there is only one word with three Hebrews letters that are questionable, but the word does not change the meaning of the passage. (General Introduction of the Bible page 263.) These two observers said that the King James Bible is 98.33% pure when compared to the Dead Sea Scrolls.

This gives you an idea of the accuracy of Scripture. Though these are important, God’s own Word is sufficient to prove its accuracy. God spoke to Moses to write:

But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die. And if you say in your heart, “How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?”—when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it pre- sumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him. Deuteronomy 18:20–22

This tells us explicitly that prophets were scrutinized as to whether or not the prophesies they declared came to pass. Deuteronomy chapter thirteen speaks similarly, saying to stone a person who would distract from obedience to God’s commands. The Jews would not accept a book of a prophet unless

the prophecies came to pass. Samuel was a prophet who spoke, and his words would not fall to the ground (Samuel 3:19). Daniel knew by the book of Jeremiah, they would be captives for seventy years (Daniel 9:2). Daniel was a young man who possibly heard Jeremiah’s prophesies before he was taken captive to Babylon in the first deportation. Daniel had experience in knowing Jeremiah was right concerning prophesy and knew what Moses wrote concerning the consequences of disobedience (Deuteronomy 28). So when we read a book like Jonah, where you read he was swallowed by a great fish, it means that this book is true. For a preacher to say that Jonah being swallowed by a fish is a fairy tale, that is declaring the Jews put a heretical book into their writings from God. It would also say Jesus believed in fairy tales, for Jesus Himself believed the book of Jonah as fact. Jesus said that His death and burial in the grave would be three days as Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days (Matthew 12:39–40). Jesus also validated the stories of Noah (Matthew 24:37–38), Lot, and Sodom and Gomorrah (Luke 17:28–29). Jesus also validated the Genesis record of Adam and Eve (Mark 10:6–9). Jesus never had any difficulty believing the Scriptures. He should know, as He declared that Abraham rejoiced to see His day, and that He was “I AM” before Abraham, meaning He is God. God would know if these were true (John 8:56–58).

The very fact that Jews still keep the Passover is validation that God’s Word is true.

So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. Exodus 12:14

Israelites from then to today, for approximately 3,600 years, have celebrated the Passover. It is a testimony that God did deliver His people Israel out of Egypt in the exodus and did plague the Egyptians with pestilences, even though you may read there are no historical records from Egypt saying such a thing happened.

God proves His Word by declaring or telling a thing to His prophet even before it happens (Isaiah 46:9–10). God spoke to Abraham in Genesis fifteen that His people would live in a nation as strangers and be afflicted for four hundred years, and then God would judge this nation and deliver them.

If we did our own study of Psalm 22 and Isaiah 52:13– 53:12 and compared these verses as to what happened to Jesus in His arrest, trials, crucfixion, and burial, then we would have enough scriptures fulfilled to believe Jesus to be the Messiah.

If you happen to be of Jewish descent, I give a text that provides absolute proof that Jesus is the Messiah come into the world, which Moses prophesied.

The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, according to all you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, “Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.” And the Lord said to me: “What they have spoken is good.” I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. Deuteronomy 18:15–19

Let’s take the first words of Moses, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren.” In Matthew 1, Matthew records the genealogy of Jesus to be a descendant of Israel. When you compare Moses to Jesus you see similarities. One is that they were both born under persecution. When Moses was born, Pharaoh commanded to kill all of the firstborn Israelite boys (Exodus 1:22). When Jesus was born, Herod knew that this child born King of the Jews was birthed in Bethlehem and sent soldiers to kill any child two years of age and younger so that this Savior would be destroyed (Matthew 2:16).

Moses was rejected as Israel’s savior when the Jewish slave said to Moses, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” (Exodus 2:14) Jesus was also rejected as Israel’s Savior when the Pharisees and Pilate were discussing the issue of Jesus.

And it was the preparation of the Passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. John 19:14–16 (kjv)

When God called Moses out of Egypt to be alone in Exodus 3, He allowed the rejection of Moses by Israel, so Moses fled to Midian (Exodus 2:15). Jesus was likewise called out

of Egypt, since his parents Joseph and Mary with the baby Jesus had fled before the slaughter at Bethlehem (Matthew 2:13–14). There is a prophecy in the Old Testament that gives indication of Jesus being called out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1), Matthew 2:15 says Jesus returning from Egypt is fulfillment of that prophesy.

Moses is considered in the Scriptures as the meekest man during his lifetime. This is because he had self–control and allowed God to be his defense. When confronted by those who opposed Moses, God defended Moses by either correcting them, or by getting rid of them (Numbers 12 and 16).

Jesus was certainly the meekest of all men. Every time the religious leaders in Israel wanted to throw Jesus off a cliff, stone Him, or arrest Him, He was able to walk away, because it was not the right time for His death. Check out these chapters in the gospels: Luke 4, John 8, and 10. Jesus, when being arrested in the garden of Gethsemane, did not defend His life when He had the power to call legions of angels to His rescue (Matthew 26:13).

Moses was faithful in all God’s house. He was commanded to pay attention to how God wanted the tabernacle built and how the sacrifices were to be performed Exodus 25–40.

“Thus Moses did; according to all that the Lord had commanded him, so he did” (Exodus 40:16 nkjv).

This verse demonstrates how faithful he was. When we compare Jesus to Moses, they are similar. Jesus said, “What- ever the Father shows me that will I also do.” Read John 5:19– 47 and look at what Jesus said.

Did Jesus raise people from the dead? He raised a son of a widow in Nain (Luke 7), He raised up a little girl (Matthew 9),

He raised up Lazarus (John 11), and at His crucifixion, many people were raised to life and did not come out of the grave until Jesus was resurrected (Matthew 27).

Jesus testified that if we fail to honor the Son, we dishonor the Father. Isn’t this what God spoke to Moses in Deuteronomy 18 saying, “It shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him.” Didn’t God say that this prophet would come in His name? Jesus said that, “I have come in my Father’s name.” Jesus said the Scriptures testify of Him; isn’t Deuteronomy 18 speaking about Jesus. Other scriptures also speak of Jesus. Jesus healed those that were born blind. This man born blind said this of Jesus:

Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. “Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.” John 9:30–33

This man said the only one that can heal a man born blind is one who is heard by God because he is obedient to God. Jesus said to the Jews:

If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; “but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe

the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.” John 10:37–38

Would we fail to see that Jesus was the Messiah that came into the world because we were taught otherwise? We have to answer the question of the proof of the existence of Jesus; just the fact that our calendar was changed speaking about His life, before and after, is a good indication of this truth. The testimony of the Gospels and Paul proves the existence of Jesus and Josephus the Jewish Historian wrote of Jesus.

Upon the completion of Moses ministry, God buried him and no one could find him (Exodus 34:5–6). When we see the end of Jesus’s ministry on earth, we cannot find His body, because the grave He was in is empty. Jesus had been resurrected in fulfillment of Psalm 16:10–11:

For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalms 16:10–11

This Scripture speaks of Jesus’ death and His resurrection and as well as His ascension to the right hand of the Father.

Jesus’s death and resurrection and ascension are in fulfillment of the scapegoat sacrifice spoken in the Old Testament book in Leviticus (John 20:17; Acts 1:9; Acts 7:55; Hebrews 10:12).

Then Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the Lord’s lot fell, and offer it as a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon it, and to let it go as the scapegoat into the wilderness. Leviticus 16:8–10

God, wanting to give a picture of the death, resurrection, and ascension of His Son instructed this sacrifice. Ask yourself, how do you show the death and resurrection in one sacrifice? By using two animals, one dies, the other lives, but how do you show the ascension? This is by allowing the living sacrifice to be set free into the wilderness, not to be returned. Jesus is the fulfillment of this sacrifice, because He died, was buried, then was resurrected, and ascended to the Father God, until His return to save Israel.

Just as Joseph was rejected as his brother’s leader, became a prince in Egypt, sat at the right hand of Pharaoh, and then delivered his own brothers and family from the great famine, so also shall Jesus return and deliver Israel from their famine of the true and living God (Genesis 37–47). Revelation fourteen speaks of Jesus’ return to Zion. Revelation nineteen speaks of Jesus’ return to defeat all the armies of the earth that come against Him.

Look at the prophecy Moses gave concerning Israel’s rebellion to God’s command.

When you beget children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, and act corruptly and make a carved image in the form of anything, and do evil in the sight of the Lord your God to provoke Him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess; you will not prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed. And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. And there you will serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice (for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them. For ask now concerning the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether any great thing like this has happened, or anything like it has been heard. Deuteronomy 4:25–32

This happened just as God said, you find this in 2 Chronicles, and 2 Kings and you read of the deportation of Israel into Babylon, and from there have been scattered to the ends of the earth. Jewish people are all over the world.

Yet, God was faithful to return Israel to their land in 1948. You read Deuteronomy’s prophecy, now read Ezekiel’s prophecy:

I will accept you as a sweet aroma when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you have been scattered; and I will be hallowed in you before the gentiles. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for which I raised My hand in an oath to give to your fathers. And there you shall remember your ways and all your doings with which you were defiled; and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight because of all the evils that you have committed. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have dealt with you for My name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways nor according to your corrupt doings, O house of Israel,” says the Lord God.

Ezekiel 20:41–44

This is a witness to the gentiles or nations that God brought the Jews back to the land that they now call their nation Israel. Daniel knew by the prophecies written by Jeremiah that Israel would be in Babylon for seventy years. Israel had rejected Jeremiah’s prophecies about Jerusalem being destroyed and the people being deported to Babylon, yet that is exactly what happened. Because Jeremiah’s words were true, his book of prophesy was added to the prophetical books along with Isaiah and Hosea. Daniel, knowing Jeremiah’s prophesies, being one of the first to be deported, came to read Jeremiah’s words and

knew that there would come the end of their enslavement ( Jeremiah 25 and Daniel 9:2).

Jesus fulfilled some three hundred prophecies speaking about His birth, His life, His teachings, His miracles, His betrayal, His persecution, His death, and His resurrection. The probability of Jesus fulfilling eight prophesies is one in ten to the seventeenth power, meaning ten with seventeen zeroes behind it. Just to fulfill forty–eight prophesies is one in ten to the 157th power. It would be easier to win the lottery. These probabilities are taken from Peter Stoner in Science Speaks and mentioned in Josh McDowell’s book “Evidence that Demands a Verdict.”

Now I want to give you Scripture proving the New Testament. The first thing that proves New Testament doctrine is where Jesus commanded the apostles to teach His commandments and teach the believers to observe all that He commanded.

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. Matthew 28:18–20

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Acts 2:42

This is why the believers continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine, because the apostles were the ones who touched, handled, heard, and saw all that Jesus did and what He commanded (1 John 1:1) The apostles were faithful to teach and relay all that Jesus taught them. They saw the power of God to raise Jesus from the dead, and saw the power of Jesus displayed. They did not think God’s Word was trivial but thought it important to follow and not to allow themselves to be self-motivated. Paul said:

Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and altering speech deceive the hearts of the simple. Romans 16:17–18

Paul even pronounced a curse upon himself and anyone else, if he taught another gospel.

But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. Galatians 1:8–9

Paul was an apostle who received from Jesus his doctrine of the gospel. As speaking about those who saw Jesus in His resurrected state he said:

Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 1 Corinthians 15:8–10

Paul did not of his own merit create his own doctrine, but he went specically to Jesus to learn from Him.

But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I per-secuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. (Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie.) Afterward I went

into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. But they were hearing only, “He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.” And they glorified God in me. Galatians 1:11–24

All those that heard Paul confirmed he was preaching the gospel, and they glorified God for it. Paul said:

“For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11 nkjv).

The foundation of Jesus is first built on the Old Testament. Paul said:

Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you––unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. 1 Corinthians 15:1–4

It was the Scriptures that proved Jesus the Messiah. It is upon the Scriptures that we build doctrine. In reading the New and Old Testament, we can find places where Paul found Scripture in the Old Testament that he taught in his letters to the churches. Paul said:

How that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets. Ephesians 3:3–5

This approves the letters of the Apostles John and Peter. They were holy apostles, as Jude and James were teachers. James and Jude were leaders in the church and half–brothers to Jesus and saw Jesus’ life also (Acts 15). They were probably a testimony to all the apostles of how Jesus never sinned, even as a child or teen.

Peter confirmed the writings of Paul as doctrine that was given to him by Jesus.

And consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. 2 Peter 3:15–16

Paul taught Timothy to: “Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you” (1 Timothy 4:16 nkjv).

The New Testament is the revealing of the mystery of "Christ in you, the hope of glory". In no way do Paul’s, Peter’s, or John’s letters contradict Jesus’s teaching or the Old Testament. Jesus taught that the believer will be misunderstood and persecuted for His sake. They would die for His sake, and even suffer great things for being His witness and teaching His doctrine.

“But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered” (Romans 6:17 nkjv).

The doctrine of Christ is what set slaves to sin free. It was this one method of “Jesus is the answer” that sets a person free from the power of sin.

When you read the books of Scripture and know that most of these prophets and writers had never met one another, that their writings are in agreement with each other about a suffering and exalted Messiah, the nature of man, judgment, the new world, and then consider how many of their prophecies have come true, it is clear that they could not have collaborated with one another to devise such a perfect scheme. Peter wrote that even his testimony of seeing Jesus transfigured into glory in front of him on the mount (Matthew 17) is not as great a testimony as prophesy.

For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will

of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:17–21

These men who wrote the Scriptures down didn’t write them down of their own selfish motivated course to deceive man, but wrote them down as the Holy Spirit inspired it to them. They did not conjure up these things. They did not go into trances and coax the Holy Spirit up. Some were just ordinary people that God came to and used to give His Word to a rebellious people.

When you consider that their words have been fulfilled and that they were not false prophets according to the proving of prophets in Deuteronomy eighteen, and that one man, Jesus, fulfilled three hundred prophesies; then you cannot but confess that man could not do this, but it must be an act of God.

There are still some prophesies to be completed. The only ones left are the scriptures speaking about the day of Jacob’s trouble (the great tribulation), the thousand year reign of Christ Jesus, and the new heaven and earth. Just think, for every verse speaking about the first coming of Jesus into this world, there are eight times as many verses testifying of His second coming. If God kept His word of Jesus coming literally the first time, then what keeps Him from fulfilling His word of sending Jesus literally into the world the second time and bringing in an everlasting righteousness?

Search the Scriptures yourself, prove all things, check historical proofs, search into archaeological findings, and you will find the proof of scriptural truth.

the Purpose of Jesus Christ

The first thing I want to establish is the gospel. Many people have a misunderstanding of the gospel. Some people believe Jesus was a good teacher and came to show us how to love. Some believe that Jesus came to save us because we are worthy. Some people believe they are good enough or have done more good than evil and believe they will enter into heaven. Others teach that God the Father did not send His Son to die for our sins, but to help to make the world right. Some teach that if God the Father killed His Son, this would be wicked, and it would be if the father killed His Son for no good purpose. Now God sent His Son, He did not kill Him, but allowed His death for a good purpose. If we look at Scripture, it was man who killed Jesus because of his hatred of God. Another belief is that we shall humbly join together with Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, and Secularists in pursuit of peace, environmental stewardship, and justice for people; things that matter to the heart of God. This is saying there is more than one way to heaven and doing well and joining together will better God’s creation. Though peace, justice, and environmental

stewardship are worthy efforts; these are not reasons to reject the truth in the Scriptures, declaring there is no eternal life to those who reject Jesus Christ. Most of the world, including a majority of the church, rejects absolute truth.

When you study the Scriptures, and about Jesus Christ, there is no medium ground saying Jesus was a good man or a prophet from God, for He was God as He declared Himself to be or He was a lunatic. If He declared Himself to be God and lied, this makes Him a bad person.

Let us begin by establishing who Jesus is. One day, Jesus sat with His disciples and asked them, “Who do you believe I am?” (Matthew 16) Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus confirmed this to them and said not to tell anyone at that point. What does “Christ” mean? The word Christ is our English word translated from the Greek, which is in answer to the Hebrew language, which the English language translates to Messiah, both meaning “anointed one.” It was the anointed one who the Israelites were waiting for.

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the accept- able year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn. Isaiah 61:1–2

Jesus said that this verse was in reference to Him in Luke 4 and the people sought to kill Him for it. Israel was watching for

their messiah and missed it. John said:

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. John 1:6–11

John the Baptist was the witness of Jesus, but Israel rejected his words. Israel had always longed to see their Messiah come and deliver them from bondage, they just misunderstood what bondage. They believed the Scriptures that the Messiah would show up in the flesh, would be the Son of David, and would rule on the throne of David in Jerusalem. This will happen, but did not at the time Jesus first came. What the Jews believed is, the anointed one would come and immediately sit on the throne of David.

The anointed one was believed to be God. When you look at scriptures in Isaiah, you see He was to be born and be named Immanuel, which in Hebrew means “God with us.”

Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14 nkjv).

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Isaiah 9:6–7

These Scriptures are speaking about Jesus as God, since He was the only baby born by a virgin (Luke 1:28–38; Matthew 1:18–25). Here are only a few of the scriptures saying that Jesus is God. Let us look at what Hebrews says speaking about Jesus:

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For to which of the angels did He ever say: “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You”? And again: “I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son”? But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: “Let all the angels of God worship Him.” And of the angels He says: “Who makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire.” But to the Son He says: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your Kingdom. You have

loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions.” and: “You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain; and they will all grow old like a garment; like a cloak You will fold them up, and they will be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not fail.” But to which of the angels has He ever said: “Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” Hebrews 1:1–13

The writer of Hebrews quotes scriptures from the Old Testament. Look at what is said. This states that Jesus is heir of all things, through whom He also made the worlds. This says, Jesus created the world and became heir of it. Doesn’t Genesis say that God created the heaven and earth? Hebrews says that Jesus is the glory and express image of God and holds all things by the Word of His power. God, even speaking about His Son, called Him God. Jesus called God His God ( John 20:17). God the Father and God the Son have given honor to each other. Here, God, your God, has anointed you; Jesus is the anointed one. These scriptures give proof of this. God says your Lord has created the foundations of the earth. The heaven and earth will perish, but You will remain. You are the same, yet all else will fold up. This says Jesus is God and is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Contrary to Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witnesses, not one of the angels was called to sit at the right hand of God, only Jesus, who is God.

Let us look at what John said about Jesus:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. John 1:1–3

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life—the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us—that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. 1 John 1:1–4

John thought it important to tell you that your completion in Christ rests on the fact that Jesus is God in the flesh, who was born, died, and rose from the dead to give us salvation (eternal life) through Him.

Let us look at what Paul said about Jesus:

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in

the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth. Philippians 2:5–10

He is the image of the invisible God, the rstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. Colossians 1:15–17

Paul said that Jesus is equal with God, was the image of the invisible God, yet He chose to humble Himself and become a servant; to die the death of the cross, so that He may save those who would believe in Him. Paul said Jesus created all things and by Him all things consist. These are declarations saying Jesus is God who came in the flesh.

Let us look at what Jesus said about Himself: “I and My Father are one” ( John 10:30 nkjv).

What is Jesus claiming? That He is equal with God the Father? Yes, He is saying that He is God as well as the Father is God. The Jews even said to Jesus, “For a good work we do not stone you, but for blasphemy, and because you, being a Man, make yourself God ( John 10:33).” The Jews knew exactly what

Jesus was claiming and would have stoned Him for it. Either Jesus is God or He is a liar, no question about this. Jesus can’t just be a good teacher, He either is God or He is not and is a liar. When a certain ruler came to Jesus saying, “Good teacher,” Jesus replied, “So Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is God’” (Luke 18:19 nkjv).

Jesus was saying if you are calling me good, then I am God. He was not saying that He wasn’t good. Jesus said, “Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?” ( John 8:46 nkjv).

Jesus never sinned and had no guilt or accusations against Him that could be proven (John 18:38; Matthew 26:59–60). This would make Him good and God, for there was no man on earth who has not sinned.

Now let’s consider the gospel message to man. Jesus came to the earth for what reason? He came to become the Lamb of God that would take away the sin of the world ( John 1:29).

When God created man, He created man in His image. In what sense? In the sense of being holy, able to govern, and able to do right. When God created everything, He said, “It is very good” (Genesis 1:31). Now God, speaking to man the rules He wanted for man to obey, said:

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:16–17

But what happened? In Genesis three, Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate of the tree of good and evil. Eve was deceived and Adam wasn’t, but they knew God’s command and knew what it meant when they ate it. The result of their disobedience resulted in their physical death and the death of their relationship with God. God deported them out of the garden, yet let them live. God did not, however, let them live on their own accord. God offered a sacrifice to cover their shame of sin. An innocent life was substituted to die in place of their death. This is the type of sacrifice Jesus made for mankind. He became the living substitute that was innocent of any sin, dying in the place of a guilty man who could not pay the penalty of sin outside of his own death and eternal punishment in hell.

God could not break His command to spare Adam and Eve, but in His love, He allowed a substitute to die for them. God does not change; if God had changed His mind about the death of Adam and Eve, then God would have changed. But because He does not change, He gave justice against sin. If they did not die, God would fail to be just. We may think eating food is trivial, but a law is a law and if broken, the penalty of the law must be appeased. In this case, God provided an innocent sacrifice to die in their place so the justice of the law was appeased.

If justice requires the death penalty for a crime, then it doesn’t make any difference how much good a criminal has performed, or whether he has changed his ways. If the death penalty is required, then only the death penalty can appease justice.

Why do I say this? Because no matter how trivial we think eating a piece of fruit is, disobedience is a crime before God. We know that false statements, stealing, and murder are wrong; these are just the result of the evil that was birthed in us as Adam and Eve disobeyed God in eating fruit. Disobedience altered man’s

image of being like God. God never sins, nor is tempted to sin ( James 1:13).

Now God, in His grace, is greater than any sin that we can conceive. God gave favor to Adam and Eve, and more than they deserved. Why? Because God is love. God in His infinite wisdom from before the foundation of the world, knowing we would sin, made plans to send His son Jesus to come to the world to die in substitution for those that would otherwise pay their own penalty for sin, by death in separation from God, in an eternal fire of torture.

Now I do not know what you believe; but have you lied? Have you stolen? Have you cheated in anything? Have you hated with murder in your heart? Have you committed adultery with desire in your heart for another? Then you have sinned. What is your penalty? It is eternal punishment in torture without a relationship with God. Justice must be served; you cannot pay your punishment by doing more good works, by self afflicting, or punishing yourself. You cannot give up all your money to pay it. You can do nothing to change the penalty at your judgment before the Judge of the entire world. You’re guilty, that is the verdict, into the Lake of Fire, where there is eternal torture.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 nkjv).

What are you to do? This is the glorious reason for the gospel, because there is nothing you can do. Jesus paid your penalty on the cross, and His resurrection is proof of it. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, He is still dead and you are still under the penalty of death. But praise be to God, for Jesus did rise from the dead. His death on the cross paid the penalty and gave all who would believe Jesus is their substitute for their sin the ability to enter into the presence of God and have eternal life

through Jesus Christ. This was proven when, in Jesus’s death, the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies in the Temple, was torn in half; not from the bottom up, as if man could enter on his own, but was torn from top to bottom, God providing the way into His presence.

God took joy in allowing His Son to die in your place (Isaiah 52:13–53:12). No one enjoys seeing death, but in this case, Jesus death paid the price for all those who believed Him before His cruci xion, like Adam, Eve, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, David, and many others and for all those who would come to believe after His death and resurrection. The apostles believed, as did many others who saw Jesus rise from the dead, and many of those which never saw Jesus in His resurrected state like the three thousand in Acts 2.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23 nkjv).

These are the glorious words from Paul, who saw Jesus after His ascension. Paul was set free from his religious state of believing that he was good enough to enter into the presence of God. He knew that according to the Law, he believed he was faultless; but the problem he realized, was that he lacks something far greater than obeying the law and that was a relationship with Jesus. Paul confessed he was a sinner in:

“This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief ” (1 Timothy 1:15 nkjv).

Paul called himself the chief of sinners; so if you think because you have sinned a sin that God cannot forgive through Jesus, then consider if Jesus can save Paul, the chief, then he can save you.

Paul said this is the gospel:

This is the foundation of your salvation: that Jesus died for our sin and rose again in fulfillment of prophecy; so when God makes promises concerning you placing your faith in Him, you can be sure that God will keep His promise.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8 nkjv).

His grace is what saved you, though you were tainted by sin. God in His power set you free from the power of sin so that you could be conformed to the proper image before God. This is a process, but to all who believe, the resurrection life of Jesus Christ within us will transform us in the image of Christ.

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall

see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. 1 John 3:1–3

Learn of Jesus, grow in the knowledge of Him, and fall in love with Him and His words, and you shall prosper in Him.

If you find pastors and Christians teaching that there is more than one way to God, that we can pay for our sin through doing good or changing our life without repentance and acknowledgment that we are guilty and need Jesus to pay our penalty, then they are false teachers.

Search the Scriptures yourself; there is no denying it. Remember what Paul said about preaching another gospel (Galatians 1:8–9).

One Way

The reason man wants to believe there are many ways to go to heaven is because man does not want to believe sin is such a bad act, that it deserves death. Man wants to trivialize God’s commands and to live whatever way he wants to live. Many people continue in sin, even though they profess themselves to be Christians and say they have placed their trust in Christ. There is no love for Him or for His ways: they just make the profession, “I believe in God.”

The reason Jesus came into the world was to liberate us from the power of sin, so that we can live to His ways, which are beneficial to our whole being. He expects us to respond to His love and act of death for our sin and in gratitude we would surrender to His love. We then would see the right way to live and chose to follow that path. This is why Jesus died, so we would follow Him as the way.

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’” ( John 14:6 nkjv). Was Jesus trying to make it hard for man to come to Him? Is God unfair in declaring Jesus to be the only way to salvation? Why can’t there be another way? I have a question; can you pay

for your own debt of sin? Yes, you may certainly pay your own debt of sin, but where does this lead you according to God’s Law? It leads to death. Can you find another man on earth who has not sinned against God and is innocent to substitute Himself for your sin? No, there is none who seeks after God. All have gone their own wicked way and all have fallen short of the glory of God. So all have sinned and the penalty of sin is death (Romans 3:10–12, 23).

It was God who initiated the solution for our sin. It was His love to send His son Jesus to come to this earth as a man, innocent of any sin, faultless before the eyes of God. It was His willingness to be our substitute, to pay our penalty of sin so that now we may have a way to heaven. Without Jesus dying on the cross for us, there is no hope for man. It is impossible to enter into the presence of God as a sinner who has not paid for his crime. This would be injustice. God would be an unjust God, and could not be trusted at His word if He did not punish crimes against Him, to which He pronounced a judgment for. If God had said in the garden, “You can eat of any tree in the garden including the tree of knowledge of good and evil,” then Adam and Eve would not have sin.

Let us look at what happened in the garden.

The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the

one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die”

Genesis 2:8–17 nkjv

Adam was first formed, and then Eve was formed after the command not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. After Eve was formed out of his flesh, she was told by Adam not to eat of that tree. Adam was faithful as a perfect creature in God’s image to convey what God wanted done. God formed Adam and put him in this garden. All Adam had to do was take care of the garden and all the animals. Living in the garden, both of them could eat of any tree bearing fruit, even the tree of life, but should not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This doesn’t seem so hard to do. Yet we know what happens.

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, “You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; “but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor

shall you touch it, lest you die.” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Genesis 3:1–6

Eve was deceived by Satan to believe the tree was beneficial to her. She knew what God said and she knew the consequences. She could have easily walked away and eaten of any tree’s fruit, including the Tree of Life, but she willingly chose to disobey. So she ate and seeing that nothing happened to her right away, she told Adam. Adam didn’t eat of the fruit because he was deceived; he ate in response to the woman. Adam could have resisted and went to eat of other fruit, but Adam sacrificed his life for her. It was when he ate that both their eyes were opened, Adam and not Eve had the seed (Romans 5:12) by which sin would enter into their offspring. They were both one and both bodies were affected with guilt and shame. This is our first reaction to sin; to cover up and then to hide. Then God’s habit of communion with His children came.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of

the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” Genesis 3:7–11 nkjv

God’s voice (Jesus) came in the cool of the day, and found them hiding. He knew already they had sinned, because God is all–knowing, and He called out anyways, “Where are you?” So Adam responded, “I heard your voice walking and we hid ourselves because we were afraid.” They never had this experience before of punishment for doing a sin, but it was in their heart to fear.” Yet God never came down in a fury to destroy them, though He could have. Then God asked them, “Why are you afraid, did you eat of the tree, which I told you not to?” When God asked, Adam should have realized it was better for him to confess his sin, but what is man’s natural tendency as sinners? To blame others:

Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” Genesis 3:12–13

Adam blamed the woman, not even proclaiming her name, as one might tend to do when angered. Adam even blamed God,

because it was God who gave him the woman. He blamed God for giving him a good thing. Then Eve blamed the serpent, in place of confessing.

God then proclaims a punishment for Adam, Eve, and Satan. This is where we as mankind might miss what happens in the garden. We sometimes overlook the favor that Adam and Eve did not die in the garden. God, in His love, though not even asked, did something for Adam and Eve that no one else could do for them. Adam and Eve would have died in the garden, but an innocent substitute was made for them. This substitute died in their place and the skin removed from that innocent substitute was used to cover their guilt, shame, and nakedness.

“Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21 nkjv).

This is the first sacrifice made to be a type of Jesus Christ, who came to pay the penalty for sin, to have His righteousness removed and placed over the guilt and shame of sin in a person’s life. It was Jesus’s sacrifice, the spilling out of His blood, with which we were sprinkled and cleaned, our sin removed, and the robes of Jesus’s righteousness placed upon us. Adam and Eve did not leave the garden alive because they were good people, or they believed in God, or they paid their own penalty of sin by promising to be good. Rather, they lived because God sacrificed a life in their place. Adam and Eve in the flesh would die because they did not have opportunity to eat of the tree of life, for God cast them out of the garden and placed the cherubim there with the sword to keep them from it, lest they eat the fruit and be sinners eternally. In response to God’s sacrificial act, Adam and Eve brought a sacrifice before the Lord yearly, one as a type of sin sacrifice, and two as worship, thanks, gratitude, and praise for what God had done for them and the promise of what God

would do for them. Adam must have taught his children this and then it should have been an accepted practice throughout the ages. Cain and Abel brought their sacrifices. Abel followed the example of what God did for his parents by bringing his sacrifice of a lamb and was accepted. Cain did not follow the example God did for his parents, he offered of his best crops, and it was not accepted. Cain is the type of person who believes he can do what is right in his own eyes and be acceptable before God (Genesis 4).

It was one man’s sin that brought death to all mankind. We may not find it fair. Yet think about it, when we sinned once, did we ever commit the same sin again? I am certain we did. If we knew it was wrong once, then why did we do it again? This is our sinful nature and now we find we are guilty, just as Adam and Eve.

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned––(For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those

who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 5:12–21

So now we have a man who was faultless and sinless before God, who has sacrificed Himself for us to have a way to God the Father. Just as Adam, Eve, Abel, and Cain could not continue to live without a sacrifice, so we cannot. Adam, Eve, and Abel believed and we shall see them in heaven; but Cain we shall not see, because he believed there is another way. This is at least the picture the Scriptures give, since Cain is not mentioned in the book of Hebrews as a believer. No one can proclaim his own sentence for sin, it was already proclaimed in the garden. Sin resulted in death in the flesh, death spiritually, and then at the judgment cast into the lake of fire.

Well, you might ask, why couldn’t an animal pay for our sin, like the sacrifices in the Old Testament? They cannot because they are only types of what Jesus was to do for us. “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4 nkjv).

Why is this? Because an animal is not a man? A man committed the crime, an animal did not. God became a man, so He can take our penalty on Him. This is why Jesus cried on the cross, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” This is where God separated from His Son, Jesus, because He had taken upon Himself our sin. God the Father and Jesus were separated. What do you think the feeling was when the Father and Son were separated from each other? They felt a void in their hearts. This is the feeling we all feel in our lives. We feel a void in our lives, which we think we can fill by all the pleasures of the world. God’s separation from His Son Jesus gave us the ability to have this void filled by God. In our response to what Jesus Christ has done for us we confess we are sinners, accepting Jesus as our substitute and choosing Him as our way for life, and committing ourselves to live for Him. This is receiving our salvation and starting a love relationship with Jesus Christ. In this relationship, God calls us His children and will never leave us nor forsake us.

Look at these scriptures: John 1:12, 3:36, 6:29,8:24,15:1–11; Romans 8, Hebrews 13:5; Revelation 21:6–7, 22:16–17.

There was one command, one disobedience, one judgment, one sacrifice, one man who committed the sin, one man who paid the one price, one death, and one salvation; so there is only one narrow way.

Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Matthew 7:13

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

John 3:16

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eter- nal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (i.e. the word of faith that we preach), that if you confess with your mouth, the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:8–9

Tithing

How many churches have you attended that teach that the Bible commands Christians to tithe? There is no command for the Christian to tithe. The only people that were commanded to tithe was Israel. God speaking to Moses said the following:

“And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s. It is holy to the Lord. If a man wants at all to redeem any of his tithes, he shall add one– fifth to it. And concerning the tithe of the herd or the flock, of whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the Lord. He shall not inquire whether it is good or bad, nor shall he exchange it; and if he exchanges it at all, then both it and the one exchanged for it shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed. These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel on Mount Sinai.” Leviticus 27:30–34

The reason I bring this up is to demonstrate our liberty in Christ. Many churches place rules on the congregation in place of allowing love to be the motivation of giving. If we come to God with an offering we have no desire to give with willingness and love, it means nothing to Him.

Let us look at the first act of tithing.

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all. Genesis 14:18–20

Abram’s name was changed to Abraham. Abraham gave a tithe to Melchizedek. Melchizedek did not ask for it; he did not command him to give. There was no command given to Abraham in Scripture by God that commanded him to give a tithe of his wealth. Abraham, in gratitude of God’s blessings toward him, chose willingly and with joy, to give to God. Melchizedek was a priest for the Most High and served God; so Abraham gave to him to serve that ministry. Melchizedek, in Scripture, is a type of Jesus. Melchizedek brought bread and wine. Jesus gave of His body and blood. Notice the similarities. Abraham is the father of faith and is an example to all of us that have been blessed by God more than we deserve. Yet nowhere in Scripture is there any command to give less or more. As Abraham gave what he thought right in his heart; so it is with us believers that we should give according to what we believe to give in our hearts.

You can search this yourself and you should, but look at these scriptures. Jacob made a vow before God saying, “And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You” (Genesis 28:22 nkjv).

Now there is nothing wrong with making a vow as long as you can keep it, But Jesus said:

“But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is His foot- stool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.” Matthew 5:34–37

The reason Jesus said this is because you are not in control of all your circumstances. Several times in Scripture, people made vows without any thought to the consequences ( Joshua 9; Judges 11).

Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. So He (Jesus) called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.” Mark 12:42–44

When Jesus was speaking about this widow woman, He never mentioned her or the others giving a tithe. He said that this woman gave all that she had for the Lord. This may have been all she had left from paying her bills, but she did not think upon keeping it for a rainy day. She trusted God to supply all her needs, as He had already done.

Whenever Jesus spoke about a tithe, it was in reference to the religious leaders of Israel, who by command of Moses were to tithe. Yet nowhere did Jesus or the Apostles command the people to tithe. Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35).” Yet He did not give a command to give. Not even the Jerusalem council in Acts 15 said that the gentile Christians should give tithes. Peter said in that council:

And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: “Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.” Acts 15:7–11

Peter acknowledged the problem they had in bearing the burden of the Law. He is saying, “Why should we place this bur-

den on them?” Yes, this speaks about circumcision, but it relates to the law of tithing also, as other parts of the Law.

Paul gave words concerning giving and as I wrote earlier in this book; Paul learned his doctrine from Christ Jesus. Paul speaks to the Corinthians about giving.

But as you abound in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us—see that you abound in this grace also. I speak not by commandment, but I am testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. And in this I give advice: It is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began and were desiring to do a year ago; but now you also must complete the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to desire it, so there also may be a completion out of what you have. For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have. For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened; but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may supply their lack, that their abundance also may supply your lack––that there may be equality. As it is written, “He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack.” 2 Corinthians 8:7–15

Paul tells us to give according to our willingness, give what

we can, not what we do not have. Paul even says more about giving:

But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:6–7

Paul says if our generosity is little, our reward shall be small, and if our generosity is large, our reward will be large. But Paul instructs us to give as we purpose with our heart and to do it cheerfully. Do not give because you think you have to, but give out of love. Give to bless others. Jesus said just do not make a big noise about your giving (Matthew 6). We can only give according to what we are able to give. If we cannot give, there is no condemnation; but if we can give and are storing wealth for ourselves, let us be careful whether our wealth has become our god (Luke 12:15–21).

If we are a pastor, elder, or teacher of the Word, we should be setting the example. God has given us more than what we deserve; but since Abraham is our example unto giving, and as the command was given to the Levites, is an example unto the leader in giving. So I willingly give a tenth or more for God’s glory and to set the example to the saints. In no way would I place a burden upon the saints to give. The Christian is not under the Law of Moses, but under the Law of Christ, which is love; yet we can take teachings of the Old Testament and apply it to our own lives.

God is not commanding but is giving opportunity for each one of us to grow in faith through giving. Just as Jesus became poor so that we may be rich, the same is applicable to us giving to others or to the church for others to become rich. Why do I say this? Because when you give to the purpose of the church to support the teaching of the gospel, whether it is for pastoral salaries, secretaries, missions, or media; it is for the purpose of edifying the church of God to perfection in Christ Jesus.

I encourage any believer; give out of your heart. God gave us much more than we deserved. I personally believe giving to God should be a minimum of ten percent; that is not a command but a delight.

Learning to trust God in our giving by giving a tenth builds our faith. Some people can give more and that is fine. Learn to be generous and watch God give above and beyond what we have given Him. Yet by no means think that if we give more we shall be rich, or have all our wants met. We cannot manipulate God into giving. God loves a cheerful giver, not a manipulator. We should just delight in giving to God and rejoice in His love for us, no matter if He does give to us bountifully or not.

Some that teach tithing will quote this scripture.

“Yet from the days of your fathers You have gone away from My ordinances and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” Says the Lord of hosts. “But you said, ‘In what way shall we return?’ Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open

for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.” Malachi 3:7–10

Yet search these verses; who is God speaking to? Malachi is speaking to Israel. Certainly, as believers, we can learn from this, but we should not think because God cursed Israel for not tithing that if we do not tithe, we shall be cursed. This curse was pronounced because they were commanded.

The question is not, “What is God’s will?” but “What will glorify God in my giving?” God certainly gave us wisdom and gave us funds to use to support our family, to take care of home and responsibilities, to give to those in need, and to give for the purpose of the gospel, even to pay wages to pastors and teachers who deserve honor. Don’t be deceived by TV evangelists, their ministries depend on whether or not God wants their programs to be on TV. They say, “Give to God’s ministry and God shall give you a hundred fold.” Yet they are the ones with the intention to live in luxury with multiple homes and cars. Be wise with giving; make sure any ministry is legitimate. They should not be ashamed to give an evaluation of how they spend funds given to them. They will have to give an account before God. Why should we give to a ministry that will not be accountable?

Certainly, we can be assured God will reward us for our giving. He sees the heart and he sees our generosity. He can surely meet all our needs according to His riches in glory. He certainly can open heaven and pour down a blessing from heaven and give abundantly more than we deserve. Let us give because of our love, and expect God shall take care of us.

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Legalism

Legalism was the issue that prompted Paul to write his letter to the Galatians.

I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. Galatians 1:6–7

The Jews would come into the church after Paul shared the gospel in Galatia saying it was all well and good that the new believers received Jesus as Lord and Savior, but they are incomplete unless they are circumcised as Moses commanded.

When God told Peter to preach the gospel to the gentiles (Acts 10), Peter saw God baptize the gentiles with the Holy Spirit, just as he was baptized in Acts 2. Peter was surprised, because he thought the gentiles were not to receive salvation. Just before God told Peter to go to Caesarea, He showed Peter a blanket with all types of unclean creatures that were forbidden

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to be eaten under the Law of Moses. God then told Peter to kill and eat. Peter replied, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.”

God replied, “What God has cleansed you, must not call common.” This happened three times to affirm to Peter what He was trying to teach him. Peter still did not understand the vision until he saw God bless the gentiles with the same privileges as the Jews. The Jews considered gentiles to be unclean and beyond the ability of salvation; but God did not. Many gentiles converted to Judaism before Christ, but they were bound by the Law. Yet God waited until the proper time to offer the gentiles the same privilege of salvation as the Jews.

Peter, when questioned by the Jews why he was with the gentiles, gave testimony to what God did, showing him the blanket with unclean creatures, and was told not to call what God calls clean unclean. Peter then described going to the gentiles by the direction of the Holy Spirit preached the gospel and the gentiles believing received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Jews, who misunderstood at first said:

“When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, ‘Then God has also granted to the gentiles repentance to life’” (Acts 11:18 nkjv).

Before Peter had preached to the gentiles, the Jews failed to understand the Scriptures, which said God would bless all the nations of the earth.

“In your seed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice” Genesis 22:18 nkjv

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“And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the people; for the gentiles shall seek Him, and His resting place shall be glorious.” Isaiah 11:10 nkjv

Indeed He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.” Isaiah 49:6

There are many more scriptures speaking about the gentiles entering into the kingdom of God through Jesus Christ. The Jews were prejudiced and misunderstood that they were not chosen because they were special, but because of the covenant God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Yet they failed to understand that Abraham came from Mesopotamia, Ur of Chaldea. Abraham was a gentile.

One of the easiest things to prove about legalism is ask what God commanded Abraham to do. Abraham is our example of faith. Yes, he did sin, but look at what it says about Abraham when God made a promise to him:

“And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6 nkjv).

Paul speaks about this in Romans:

What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not

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before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.” Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised. For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect. Romans 4:1–14

Paul explains Abraham’s righteousness wasn’t because he was circumcised, but because he believed. This promise of righteousness is not given to those who obey the Law, but believe

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the promises of God. The gentiles, who did not have the Law, received salvation by believing the message of Jesus. They were given the promise of righteousness. This is the reason why God blessed the gentiles in Acts 10.

I say this because I have met many people that believe they are under the Law of Moses when it comes to things like obeying the Sabbath, abstaining from unclean foods, or saying they are Jewish because they are Christians, which they are not. I have seen it on television and heard it on radio programs not to eat unclean foods, and they give scientic proofs not to eat them, and then explain away our liberty in Christ.

When we study Scripture in context, as I shared earlier in this book, we find that the only people commanded to keep the Law of Moses was Israel.

Now the Lord called to Moses, and spoke to him from the tabernacle of meeting, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When any one of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of the livestock–of the herd and of the flock. Leviticus 1:1–2

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you.’” Exodus 31:12–13

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Look at these scriptures; to whom did God give these commandments? Israel! Now, as I’ve written, the Christian has liberty (Galatians 5:13) to do what is right, he is not under the Law of Moses, but of the Law of Christ (Galatians 6:2). For anyone to say the Old Testament is history and is not applicable for the Christian in his relationship in Christ would be wrong. There is no New Testament without the Old Testament. The Old Testament proves God and gives wisdom for the Christian to grow in his knowledge of God. I have heard some Christians say, “I am a New Testament reader only,” or, “I only read the red letters (Jesus’s words) of the New Testament.” To them I say their faith is incomplete without understanding the Old Testament. The Old Testament gives word pictures of Jesus, like the story of David, who defeated God’s enemy Goliath. The Old Testament gives word pictures of men of God that walked holy and unholy before God and dealt with each one accordingly. It records how David sinned, but God restored him. The Old Testament describes in Scripture how Jesus will rule on the earth and save his people Israel. The prophets spoke about the millennium, and about Israel returning to the land. The Old Testament has great treasure that is applicable to our lives. Paul said:

Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 1 Corinthians 10:11

Paul is saying the Old Testament is written so we would not make the same mistakes as those written did. Likewise, we should follow the examples of those who did follow God’s ways.

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The Christian will never have a full understanding of his faith without reading and understanding the Old Testament.

Now since we are under the Law of Christ, does this mean we can sin? No! Read what Paul wrote:

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Romans 6:1–7

Paul said more about freedom through death from the Law in the next chapter:

Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the

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law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

Romans 7:1–6

Paul is saying now that we have died in Christ, the law of sin has no dominion over us, neither the power of death. Though our physical body still has desires to tempt us, we are no longer bound or enslaved to give in to it, though sometimes we do.

Paul says the victory over the flesh is walking in the Spirit:

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

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So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. Romans 8:1–17

Paul says that we are free to walk in the Spirit and have victory over the flesh even though we will have suffering through it. If we give in to living for the flesh and live in fear, we will fail. But we have the Spirit of Christ, so we are no longer a debtor to the flesh but have the Spirit of God to lead us out of temptation. Paul is not saying we do not sin, but that we have the victory over sin when we walk in the Spirit. John in his first letter said:

If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we

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walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. 1 John 1:6–2:6 nkjv

John is saying that if we say that we do not sin, we are a liar. But if we live in the light as Jesus is in the light, we have fellowship with Christ. Then in this fellowship with Christ, we should be walking in His ways.

The sin we should not be committing are the sins mentioned in Galatians:

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you

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wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self–control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Galatians 5:16–26

We have a battle in the mind and flesh concerning sin, and this is where we know we still are sinners. I have walked with Jesus for twenty-three years. I have lied, I had kept a habitual sin, and I have had wrong attitude or thought towards someone. I look to have my life clean in Christ and make confession of it and ask Him to forgive me (1 John 1:9). We see they did not lose their salvation because of their sin. God washed their sins away because they believed in Him. Abraham and David had sinned, confessed their sin, and continued in their faith to walk with God. We should not be living to the flesh as described in Galatians and Ephesians; yet I know my sin nature is stirred up and causes me to have temptations that I do not any longer desire to indulge. I then know my sinful state and say to God, “I am incomplete.” This is what makes me know I am but flesh, but the Spirit of God gives me the victory over my thoughts.

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Our anger may go too far, or we may sin ignorantly. This is why one of the sin offerings in the Old Testament is for the ignorant sins, the ones we do not know we committed. I thank God He has covered all our sins.

Thank God we have a Savior who intercedes for us; one so that we might not fail like Peter, but if we do fail like Peter (Matthew 26), Jesus is the one calling for us and ensuring us He has called us. Jesus specically said, “Make sure you tell Peter I will meet him in Galilee” (Mark 16:7). This is the work of the Holy Spirit to confirm we are a child of God when our hearts cry “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15).

Now concerning the Law of Moses, there are plenty of reasons why God commanded these Laws. One is for the reason to do with cleansing; removing refuse from the city is exactly what we do when we have sewer systems and sewer plants (Deuter- onomy 23). This kept Israel from getting sick. Cleansing helps in the prevention of leprosy. The laws of cleansing helped Florence Nightingale solve the problem of the mortality rate in the hospitals during the Crimean War. She achieved this in the hospitals because of correcting the defective sewers, creating ven- tilation, and teaching the doctors to cleanse their hands before surgery. We practice hand cleansing so that patients will not get staph infections. Washing our hands under running water rather than washing in a stagnant bowl of water cleanses the germs away. Separating the sick from the healthy keeps sicknesses from spreading (Numbers 5).

Keeping a day of rest helps our bodies to rejuvenate from a week of work. It keeps us from trusting in ourselves to provide for our needs. God wanted Israel to learn to trust Him, which is one of the reasons for the Sabbath and the Year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25).

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All the Laws God gave Moses benefitted the lives of His people, but the one specific thing that the Christian learns from it is sanctification. Sanctification means to be separate. When a believer is different than the world and is following God’s commands, it is a testimony that God is with them. Jesus said:

“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35 nkjv).

God said the same thing to Israel concerning following his precepts:

“And you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine” (Leviticus 20:26 nkjv).

To be living like the rest of the world without any distinction of a greater righteousness is to be at enmity with God.

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be” (Romans 8:7 nkjv).

Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. James 4:4

The Christian should not be living like the rest of the world; like carousing, drunkenness, lying, theft, and adultery, etc. The Christian should be the most loving, the hardest working person, always doing what is ethically right. The Christian should be living within his means and not mooching off of others. They should not be lazy bodies. They should always be about doing their Lord’s business. We have no excuse for our laziness; we

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have a God who is concerned with all our issues and will meet us in our needs. Yet God does discipline those He loves so they would learn His holiness (Hebrews 12:10). Take the time to search the Scriptures about sanctification of the believer. God has sanctified us and is sanctifying us, though we may not feel it.

The Law is not our rules to obey; it is a guide for us to walk in love. Following Jesus is not about, “do this” and “not do that.” It is about loving Jesus and not doing anything that would harm our relationship with Him.

So, concerning the Law, we are free to walk in the liberty of Christ pleasing and glorifying Him in all that we do, without fear of offending Him.

A Psalm of David a contemplation: Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You In a time when You may be found; Surely in a flood of great waters They shall not come near him. You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah. Psalms 32:1–7

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As I stated in the previous chapter, in Romans 4 and Acts 10, the believer is saved by faith responding to the promise of God’s Son Jesus Christ who redeemed our lives from the power of sin. In Romans 4, Paul said, “Works do not save us.” If works could save us, then we would have something to boast, so grace would be unnecessary. Just as circumcision did not save an Israelite or gentile, water baptism does not save a person.

If water baptism was necessary for our salvation, then God, Jesus, and the apostles would have required baptizing the people before they came to respond to the gospel. Yet, in Acts, the gentiles were blessed with the gift of the Holy Spirit; not because they were doing any works, but because they believed the gospel message. Peter then responded, “What can hinder them from being water baptized?”

The thief on the cross whom Jesus promised would be with Him in paradise was not baptized. Do you believe Jesus lied, giving him false hope? Jesus did not say, “Sorry man, you cannot be with me in paradise because you were not baptized (Luke 23).” This is why we must look at other scriptures to prove all things.

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Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” John 6:29

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begot- ten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

John 3:16

He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.

John 3:36

The issue is to believe, to place our trust in Christ Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Anyone can be baptized in water. I was one who went through believer’s class, was water baptized, and became a member of the church, but I knew I wasn’t saved. Later, when I read the Scriptures and understood I was a sin- ner without any ability of saving myself; I made confession and asked Jesus to come into my life. Then I made the choice to be baptized as a true believer.

Now in no way does any believer have the right to say, “Because I am saved by faith, I do not need to be baptized.” This would be making an excuse for the lack of desire to be baptized. Jesus did not say baptism was a voluntary action, but He gave a commandment. Why if we were washed, redeemed, and purchased by the high price of God dying for our lost soul, would we not want to obey Him in this small thing. It should be our

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desire to obey the command from Jesus, in response of Jesus’s love. Jesus certainly did not sin, but said to John:

But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him. (Matthew 3:15 nkjv)

If a believer has opportunity to be baptized but refuses to see it as a necessary response to their faith, then I would have to question the believer’s response to the gospel. Jesus came into this world to set us free from the power of sin. What is sin? Sin is disobedience to God. Then if the believer is disobeying Jesus’s command to be baptized, then what is that?

I am not here to say which baptism is right, sprinkling or immersion, yet in Jewish practice it was submersion. The issue is obedience to what Jesus commanded.

I knew a pastor who water immersed a man who was dying from bone cancer. Because he was so weak, he could barely move. It possibly could have done him harm. He was successfully baptized without harm, but if this man was sprinkled, head immersed or partially immersed, in this his faith would have been accepted because of his desire to be obedient. We need to be aware of someone’s inability for certain things. God gave command to Israel that they were to present themselves for the celebration of the Passover, but if anyone could not because of uncleanness, then he would be allowed to celebrate at an alternative time (Numbers 9).

Search the Scriptures yourself; ask the question, Is infant baptism scriptural? Does this save a baby from the penalty of eternal separation? Can a baby make a decision? This is where you can start proving all things and begin acting like a Berean.

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Catholic Mary

In Mark chapter three, Jesus is teaching and many people believe He is out of His mind. When Jesus’s brothers and mother came to Him, they came to reprove Him. When Jesus was told His mother and brothers were outside, He replied, “Who is my mother or my brothers?” Then Jesus looked at all those with Him hearing Him and then said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God is my brother and my sister and mother” (Mark 3:31–35). Why were Mary and Jesus’s brothers not inside hearing the Word of God taught? It was because they were not totally convinced Jesus was the Messiah.

God can use anyone to get His will done, but does it mean they are servants of God. Though Mary was the instrument by which Jesus was born into the world, Mary was an unregenerate person needing to be born–again by the Spirit of God. She even confessed she was a sinner, by confessing God as her Savior.

And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior” (Luke 1:46–47 nkjv).

Only a person in trouble needs a Savior. What was she in trouble with? It was sin. If Mary was immaculately conceived, then she has no sin within her and she did not need a Savior.

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She would not proclaim God as her Savior, but simply her God. Mary, being chosen by God, was privileged. She was chosen from the foundation of the world to bring in the Messiah not because she was special in and of herself, but because God kept her and moved her heart to be His servant. God kept her a virgin. Mary is of no greater importance without Joseph. Though Mary was a descendant of King David, through David’s son, Nathan, if Joseph was to marry another girl of the lineage of David and she was a virgin, God would have used her in place of Mary. Joseph was a descendant through the royal seed, and Mary through the fleshly seed, and both were essential in importance to the lineage of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1, Luke 4).

The Catholic Mary exalts herself above Scripture. She claims the importance of listening to her. She also claims the importance to praying to her as mediator between Jesus and man. These are contrary to what the Scripture teaches. It is God who exalts a person. Nowhere in Scripture does it teach that Mary is to be mediator between Jesus and man. Nowhere is there a hint of an idea that a person is to pray to Mary and that she is omnipresent and can hear our prayers. Jesus never hinted at the idea, of praying to Mary when He was asked by the disciples how to pray. Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit coming to comfort and teach the disciples, but never spoke of Mary being co–mediator ( John 14 and 16). Jesus never breathed on the disciples to receive Mary as her spirit being with the disciples ( John 20:22). Mary is never even used in doctrinal teaching by Paul, John, or Peter. The whole focus of the Scriptures is placed on the importance of Jesus Christ as redeemer, mediator, and savior of mankind; not on Mary. All the types, metaphors, and teachings of Old Testament never point to a woman being mediator

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between Jesus and man, but only speak about Jesus fulfilling Old Testament prophesy.

Peter never said, “We have a more sure word of prophecy, to which we take heed to listen to Mary.” But he wrote, “We have a more sure word of prophecy, to which we take heed to listen to the Word of God.” I am very thankful for the love of God to choose Mary to be the virgin who would bring Jesus our Savior into the world, but in no way is she of any greater importance than anyone of us, which has placed our trust in Christ to serve Him. She is an example to all of us to be a servant, in whatever God has called us to perform, yet the greatest example set by Mary was when she said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it (John 2).” She was instructing the servants to listen to Jesus and obey. This is our entire task in this world, to point people to the Biblical Jesus listening to Him and obedience- Catholics elevate the Catholic Mary to have kept herself from evil and lived pure, but a proper understanding of Scripture says God is the one who keeps us from doing evil and keeping us pure. When we are in love with God and brought up in the proper way, we learn it was God and His ways that are perfect. We did not keep ourselves; God kept us.

I want to show you the truth of Scripture. Mary was a sinner, just like any one of us. She was a mother to sons and daughters of Joseph and she needed to take heed to God’s Word, just like anyone of us.

When we read the account of Joseph and Mary in Luke chapter one, we read the profession of Mary being a virgin, never knowing the pleasure of sex with a man. When Mary was engaged to Joseph, an angel came to Mary to proclaim what God wanted to do with her life.

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Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. “For with God nothing will be impossible.” Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Luke 1:26–38

She professes not to have had sexual relations with a man and asks the question of how she was to be pregnant without sex. Gabriel tells her that God shall perform the impossible, to place the child within her womb, for there is nothing impossible with God. God did not have sexual relations with her; God could not

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use her sinful flesh to create Jesus. God could have had Jesus come in flesh, just out of the air. To fulfill prophecy, Jesus was made flesh in a woman’s womb and was given birth, just like any ordinary man.

When we read in the account of Joseph and Mary’s engagement in Matthew chapter one, we find Joseph found out Mary was pregnant and was about to divorce her secretly so as not to shame her. An angel came to Joseph in a dream and encouraged him to take her as his wife. He at first sought to keep his integrity, but the angel spoke to him somewhat saying that your integrity is with God and not with man, your integrity is well known with God, and is still intact, even though your relatives and others will think you committed fornication, just as what is spoken of in John chapter eight. God never used Joseph and Mary to commit an act of sin, but used them in fulfillment of His will. Man many times has the wrong understanding of what God is going to do in place of believing God can do the impossible. God never took away Joseph and Mary’s desire for sexual relations. For Joseph took Mary as his wife, and not wanting to defile what God wanted to do in their life, did not have sexual relations with her until after she had given birth to Jesus.

Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus. Matthew 1:24–25

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Joseph and Mary had children after Jesus was born. “Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas” (Matthew 13:55 nkjv)?

“Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” And they were offended at Him. Mark 6:3

These two scriptures state Mary had children after Jesus. Now some will say these are Joseph’s children in a previous marriage, but this is not so. If these were Joseph’s children and not Mary’s, then when the angel spoke to Joseph in a dream to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt, God would have said, take your whole family to Egypt and then return with family, but that is not the case. We do not know how long they were in Egypt, but in the account of Matthew chapter two, it seems to be they did not have children until they were back in Israel in the town of Nazareth. There is no reasonable way Joseph would have left his children behind in Nazareth and not taken them to Egypt with him. The census requirement would have caused Joseph to take his children to Bethlehem to be counted, but there is no indication of this in Scripture (Luke 2).

What did God say to Eve in the garden in punishment for her sin?

“To the woman He said: ‘I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children” (Genesis 3:16a nkjv).

When Mary gave birth to Jesus, it was in the ordinary way; with pain and sorrow. After giving birth to a male child, any

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Israelite woman must go through a purification process of thirty three days and then present a sin offering unto the Lord (Levit- icus 12:1–6; Luke 2). If Mary was not a sinner, then she would have given birth without sorrow and pain just as it was intended before sin came into the world. If Mary, being immaculately conceived without sin and giving birth to Jesus without pain and sorrow was important, don’t we think that God would have given these facts to us in the Scriptures so we could all know the importance of praying to Mary and knowing her as our mediator between Jesus and ourselves? Yet there are no records, and no scriptural facts to prove such doctrine. In this understanding, the elevation of Mary above any other servant is heresy and false. There is forgiveness for teaching such heresy if true repentance is there, but the Law teaches that anyone to teach contrary to God’s Word shall be stoned to death. To believe in this false doctrine and to teach it is deserving of the penalty of death and eternal separation from God. This false doctrine is a distraction from the true understanding of Jesus Christ and His Bible.

There was a woman in the gospels who wanted to elevate the importance of the mother who had given birth to Jesus, but Jesus brought a proper perspective to her understanding and to all of us.

And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!” But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” Luke 11:27–28

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Jesus didn’t say His birth wasn’t important or His mother wasn’t important, but what is truly important is the hearing and doing of the Word of God. Who is the Word of God made flesh? It is none other than Jesus Christ. Joseph and Mary pondered in their hearts the things that were said of Jesus, but never had full understanding. This is why Mary and her children were outside wanting Jesus to come out to them, instead of being inside learning from Jesus the Word of God. Mary and her children did not yet believe, and John chapter seven says so. Certainly Mary’s heart was pierced by the crucifixion of her son on the cross, but there is no indication of her belief or confession of her faith in Jesus as her Savior, in the way Peter confessed in John chapter six saying, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, also we have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

All mothers are blessed by children who place their trust in Jesus Christ as Savior. Even the unbelieving mother, who has a son or daughter who has been washed by the blood of Jesus Christ is blessed. For her child has come to know the importance of hearing and living to what God says in His Word the Bible.

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The Mass

The definition of the Eucharist according to Webster’s dictionary is “the sacrament of Holy Communion, the sacrifice of the mass; the Lord’s Supper.” Let us look at Scriptures concerning the Lord’s Supper:

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Matthew 26:26–28

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many.” Mark 14:22–24

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When we look at these scriptures, we see Jesus taking bread and wine and saying to “Take, eat; this is my body.” The apostles and those who were there watching Jesus doing this with the bread and wine would not be thinking this bread and wine became literally His body and blood, for this was the Pass- over meal. Israel was commanded to celebrate the Passover as a memorial of the way the Angel of the Lord passed over the homes that had the blood applied to the lintel and door post. The Passover was not about a literal blood being applied to the door post and lintel every time they celebrated it, but to remember what God did for them. So for some 1,500 years since the first Passover, Israel was celebrating it in remembrance of what God had done for them in Egypt (Exodus chapter twelve).

Now if you want to try to interpret it according to our fleshly thinking, because we do not understand spiritual things, the natural man may conclude Jesus is saying literally, “Take, eat; this is my body.” Yet the question arises: are there other scriptures? Well, there are. Luke wrote in his historical account:

And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Likewise, He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you. Luke 22:19–20

Then Paul wrote to the Corinthians what he received from the Lord:

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For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 1 Corinthians 11:23–29

In Luke’s and in Paul’s account, the partaking of the Lord’s Supper is not literal, but is figurative. It is always a memorial as the Passover is. When we look at the memorials in Washington D.C., we do not think of these as a literal partaking of the actions that took place with our founding fathers or the stat- ues and memorials of the soldiers who fought in the wars, but we remember their sacrifice. The same is with Christ Jesus. We remember His sacrifice.

The liturgy of the Eucharist is presented as follows:

The Priest says, “Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation. Through your goodness we have this bread to offer, which the earth has given and human hands have made. It will become for us the Bread of life.”

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This is in reference of what Jesus said, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:48).

The Priest then says, “Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation. Through your goodness we have this wine to offer, fruit of the vine and work of human hands. It will become our spiritual drink.”

In both cases, the priest says the bread and wine become the literal body and blood of Christ. His spiritual body becomes bread and his spiritual blood becomes the wine. This is not what the gospel writers or Paul was writing to the saints to believe. This is as ridiculous as the Mormons teaching God having intercourse with Mary, or making spiritual babies in heaven. There is no sound doctrine for them.

Let us look at another problem with the liturgy of the Eucharist.

The priest also says, “Pray my brothers and sisters, that our sacrifice may be acceptable to God, the almighty God.”

What is the priest saying, “Pray that our sacrifice may be acceptable?” This is the belief that Jesus has to be offered at every mass and is done daily and that this is to be a continued thing forever. It is inferring that Jesus’s sacrifice has to be done over and over again and not just the one time on the cross.

The book of Hebrews was written to Israel to show that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament types in Scripture. He is the fulfillment of the prophet of Moses, for He is greater than the one who was faithful over the house of God. Jesus is the fulfilled type of the High Priest according to the covenant with Aaron and even greater in the Melchizedek covenant. Jesus is the fulfilled type of the sacrifices. The blood of bulls and goats

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could not remove the sin; so Jesus came in the likeness of man to remove the sin.

For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me. Hebrews 10:1–5

The writer of Hebrews states the priest and sacrifices are shadows of good things to come and not the very image, but we know Jesus is the express image of God, and we do not need another sacrifice daily or a priest to speak in our behalf for Jesus speaks to us (Hebrews 1:1–3).

Another verse the writer of Hebrews writes:

Who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. Hebrews 7:27

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In this verse, the writer says, “Who does not need daily?” So why do Catholics do it daily, I will answer this later. Yet in the same verse, Jesus offered “once” and He did not need to offer a sacrifice for Himself, because Jesus had no sin.

Not one time did the blood of goats and calves open the way for Israel to enter into the Most Holy Place, yet when Jesus was crucified, the veil was torn from the top down (Mark 15:38). The next day the veil did not close back up as if it needed to be done daily, but stayed opened as the way God intended it to be. Jesus is the way and has died once for mankind’s sin and it only took one time for the veil to be opened forever to whoever comes to God with faith in Jesus Christ blood applied to his life.

This eternal redemption is purchased by Christ’s blood once spilled for us. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:12 nkjv).

He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Hebrews 9:26

The writer of Hebrews says that if it was to be continual, then he would have to have to die every day since the time of sin began, yet that is not what the writer writes. “Once at the end of the ages.”

Paul wrote, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12 nkjv).

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But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

Romans 5:15–19

Paul writes that the single act of sin by one man, Adam, condemned all mankind to sin, so one man, Jesus Christ, and his single act has purchased our justification. So there only needs to be one sacrifice, one time by the true image of those Old Testament shadows.

There is another problem with the liturgy of the Eucharist. The priest states these elements come from the earth and the vine. This is true, but in truth, God created the order for these elements to come forth of His creation to be made bread and wine. There is still more. Look at the emphasis, “work of human hands.” This is a direct boast of man’s work to make the bread and wine. According to Scripture we have no boast.

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“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9 nkjv).

If it was important to mention these works, the bread and wine come forth of the ground and the work of man’s hands; wouldn’t you think Jesus would have mentioned these things in the Lord’s Supper?

Another thing to notice is the priest says, “Our sacrifice may be accepted.” This is a contradiction of Scripture. They claim that this bread and wine is their sacrifice for their sins. Israel did not ask Jesus to be offered in their behalf. Did Adam and Eve cry out to God to cover their sin? No, God offered a sacrifice on their behalf to cover their sin. When Abraham was taking Isaac to be sacrificed, Isaac asked, “Where is the sacrifice?” Abraham prophetically said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering” (Genesis 22). God sent His Son into the world and those who should have known Him (Israel) did not recognize Him (John 1).

Even Paul states Abraham had nothing to boast in works, for Abraham was accounted to be righteous because he believed.

What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. Romans 4:1–4

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So for the priest to say the bread and the wine was a work of human hands and it is our sacrifice to be accepted, they are implying they have a part in salvation, so they cast off grace.

Jesus on the cross said, “It is finished” or “paid in full.” His one act of sacrifice was for us to look at what He has done for us. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believed on Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” It is looking to Jesus; it is having faith in what Christ has done for us, not what we have offered ourselves.

As Catholics place emphasis on Mary giving birth to the deity of Jesus, so they also place emphasis on the issue of them making the bread and wine the offering for their sacrifice. Mary gave birth to God becoming flesh, but not his deity of being God, for it says, “God’s only begotten son.” Jesus was always with the Father: eternal, all knowing, and all powerful. Jesus was and is and evermore shall be. This is why Jesus stated, “I Am” many times as recorded in the Gospel of John. If Jesus always was, and is, and ever more shall be, then how could Mary have given birth to the deity of God?

Again, man’s error is to believe we can help in our own redemption. Israel couldn’t even though they said they could obey all that Moses commanded them. Israel failed to understand they couldn’t keep the Law and that they needed the sacrifice of the true image of those sacrifices to pay their debt of sin. Just as Israel did many good things, even knowing Scripture, so the same issue is with Catholicism. They both fail and anyone else who thinks we can help God in our salvation. Jesus said:

“Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors Me with their lips, But their

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heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.” He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.” Mark 7:6–9

As you read in Hebrews chapters one through four, Israel failed to enter in because of unbelief, so it is with the Catholic Church, they hear the gospel but do not believe, because they mix it with their works, so they fail to enter into the rest of Jesus. This is why the pope interprets Scriptures; this is why they make their prayers to Mary and to saints, because they limit God’s ability to hear all prayers. I want to tell you that even the Catholic Bible, Luke 22 and 1 Corinthians 11, say the Lord’s Supper is to be done in memory. Most Catholics do not bring their Bibles, let alone test what they say in Mass, they willfully trust the Catholic Church to lead them to the heaven, which will result in the pit. If you read The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop, the book will give you insight into the reasons of Catholicism’s practices.

The Catholic Church attitude is like Cains sacrifice which Cain brought his own sacrifice and tried to make God accept it but wasn't, Because blood must be shed for the sacrifice, as Abel did and his was accepted.

There is major concern here with Catholicism; for if we can think we can add or help in the work of our salvation, we are mistaken. Works are a response to what Christ Jesus has accomplished for us on the cross. So to worship Mary and give her deity status and to make the body and blood of Christ our sacrifice for our sins, we have cast off the truth. The Catholic Church does quote scriptures and does many good works. These doctrines are not in the Bible, but they have added them

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to the Scriptures with their hearts. Jesus warns us not to add to His Word in Revelation 22, Paul warned twice in Galatians, “If anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.” I would question and challenge the faith of the Catholic Church when they are joined in fel-lowship with Buddhists, Muslims, witches, and other religions in prayer. The Scriptures are clear that Jesus is the only way to salvation. Paul said also in Galatians, “For do I now persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.” Is the Catholic Church pleasing men and catering to other religions, or are they a bondservant to Christ?

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Tongues

Like I wrote earlier, we need to prove all things. Though we may attend a church that does not believe the gifts of the Holy Spirit are for today; we need to prove it. They may give reasons that the Scriptures are complete. They use the Scriptures speaking about love as proof.

“But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away” (1 Corinthians 13:10 nkjv).

Ask the question, Have we been perfected? Are we now perfected in love? We cannot find a scripture that says the need for the gifts of the Holy Spirit are complete and unnecessary. Those who do not understand the gifts of the Holy Spirit are the ones with the intentions to reject God’s gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Many churches preaching tongues do not understand the Scriptures either. They say tongues are a proof the believer is baptized in the Holy Spirit, but the scriptures do not say this. What do the scriptures teach about tongues?

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When we see the first instance of tongues, it is Acts 2:

When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts 2:1–4

Other tongues mean other languages. Paul, when speaking about tongues, in 1 Corinthians, says it is a gift of speaking in another language between an individual and God; though this language could be any type of language, even an angelic one (1 Corinthians 13:1; 14:2). Paul confirms this gift as special between the individual and God for their edification (1 Corinthians 14:4). Yet, the only way for a tongue to edify the church is through interpretation. This is why Paul states that tongues should not be used without an interpreter present.

In the five instances of receiving or being filled with the Holy Spirit, only three of the five say that they spoke in tongues (Acts 2:4, 8:17, 9:17, 10:46, 19:6). This doesn’t mean in those two instances they did not speak in tongues, but when we read what Paul says concerning receiving the gifts of the Spirit, not all speak in tongues.

Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations,

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varieties of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way. 1 Corinthians 12:27–31

Answer the question yourself, “Does everyone speak in tongues?” Seeing not all people are apostles, or prophets, and not all have the gifts of healing, then how can anyone teach that tongues are proof of being filled with the Holy Spirit?

As I have stated about tongues; it is speaking to God, where only the spirit understands. Though we should pray for understanding, these tongues are not prophecy or a word of knowledge. Tongues is praising and exalting God, those hearing Peter and the others in the upper room said:

Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, “Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” Acts 2:7–11

“For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then Peter answered” (Acts 10:46 nkjv).

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They heard them speaking the wonderful works of God in their own language. Then in Acts 10, Peter heard those speaking in tongues magnify God.

“For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries” (1 Corinthians 14:2 nkjv).

God does not need to hear a word of knowledge or wisdom. Yet he does want to hear praise and thanksgiving.

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26–27

When speaking in tongues, we do not know what we are saying unless it is interpreted; but we do know the Spirit of God makes intercession for us. Now many will say this groaning is speaking in tongues, but this is the type of groaning that a baby cries out which a mother can interpret. The word groaning can also be interpreted a “sigh” which adults make being confused, or questioning. We need to be careful not to read into a verse which is not in it, though I could support a groan as speaking in tongues between a believer and God, I would rather support both tongues and a groan which no one can interpret but God. Now Paul does talk about desiring the best gifts of the Holy Spirit:

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But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. 1 Corinthians 12:31–13:3

Love is the gift of the Spirit that is the greatest. It does not matter how much we speak in tongues, or how many mountains we move; if it is done without love it is worthless. Love is what Jesus said would distinguish us from other men.

“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” ( John 13:35 nkjv).

Jesus, speaking in John 15, says that we are the branches and He is the vine. “He that abides in me shall bear fruit,” what fruit? Paul puts both fruit and the Spirit together working in the believer.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self–control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have cruci ed the esh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Galatians 5:22–25

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Paul says the proof of the Spirit is love. If God is love (1 John 4:8) and since the Holy Spirit is God, and we are to be conformed in the image of God, shouldn’t our lives be conformed to love? This love is not the love of affection or sexual love, but it is the self–sacrificing, unselfish love that Jesus exempli ed to all of us by humbling Himself, becoming poor, and dying on the cross so we may have life.

Look at other scriptures about love:

Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:37–39

Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the Law. Romans 13:8

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. 2 Corinthians 13:14

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. Galatians 5:6

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Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Ephesians 1:4

That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:17–19

And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet–smelling aroma.

Ephesians 5:2

Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like–minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

Philippians 2:1–2

When we read these scriptures, we do not see the importance of the gifts, though they do have their purpose in love. The purpose of being filled with the Holy Spirit is to love, since He is our consolation, and our communion in the Spirit is complete in love. Anywhere else in Scripture, Paul never praises those in the

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church for exercising the gifts, but only for practicing love. The gifts then are to be used in the work of love.

Paul does say that when perfection comes, the gifts of the Spirit will cease, but the one thing that will remain is love.

But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:10–13

Paul says, “But earnestly desire the best gifts.” This means to ask for the gifts of the Holy Spirit for a particular purpose; if we need knowledge, ask for the word of knowledge; if anyone needs healing, then the gift of healing; yet God gives to each person, “dividing to every man severally as he will” (1 Corin- thians 12:11). Follow the practice of the use of tongues and the other gifts in the church as 1 Corinthians 14 speaks about, yet do all things decently and in order.

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Self-esteem, Self-love

Again, I challenge everyone to prove all things. Concerning self–esteem and self–love, there is no teaching of it in the Scriptures. Psychology and man’s philosophies want to say we need to love ourselves. I ask the question, “Isn’t selfishness the reason for wickedness?” Man loves to blame everyone else for his problems in place of speaking the truth and saying, “I made the choice to go this way.” This is why God says:

The word of the Lord came to me again, saying, “What do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children’s teeth are set on edge?’ As I live,” says the Lord God, “you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul who sins shall die. Ezekiel 18:1–4

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The children of Israel blamed their parents for their sins. God says this is incorrect. God says whoever sins, no matter the circumstances of their life or parents shall die. So blaming social ills for man’s wickedness is wrong. Though I’m sure social problems do lead to such evil as abuse, alcoholism, drug addictions, prostitution, etc.; blaming the society and what has happened to a person is an excuse. It is proven wrong when people overcome their obstacles of abuse, poverty, or social negligence, they become responsible, strong, and secure people defeating the status quo of such things, and live better lives for it. Check out testimonies of those who lived in violent and impoverish areas who became famous not living as their parents did. Each of us has a choice to do what is right if we recognize evil is our basic nature, and then choose to live contrary to that nature of our flesh. Take a look at Genesis 3, Adam blamed God and Eve for his sin; Eve blamed Satan for her sin. Let’s take a look at what God says in his Word.

“Yet you say, why should the son not bear the guilt of the father? Because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes and observed them, he shall surely live. The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?”

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says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live? But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die.” Ezekiel 18:19–24

God says that if you’re a parent and you do what is right before the Lord and your child still chooses to rebel against the Lord’s ways, you will not be judged for your child’s sin, and vice–versa, If you’re a son and you did what is right before the Lord, despite the wickedness of a parent, you will be judged upright and live while the parent shall be judged and die. This pretty much says that in no way is a child at fault for their parent’s sin, like some children blame themselves for their parents’ divorce and such. The parents also are not the fault of their children’s sin, no matter how sinful they were or weren’t, even though their child may do very wicked things. It is one thing for a parent to take blame when their child sins when living in their home, but another when the child is an adult and has to make choices on his own. God said the soul is mine and if he sins he will die; this is because sin is optional, it is a choice each one of us has to make.

I chose to hate my family because they were liars, and abusers. When I became involved in all types of sin, hate, and violence, I knew in my heart these were wrong. I knew I wanted to be free, but the reason I did not have freedom was because I did not yield myself to the truth. The truth is that my nature is to do evil and

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make excuses for my sin, and the only deliverance is my surrendering to God’s council through His Son, Jesus. A person cannot have their old filthy garments changed and receive new clean garments unless they are willing to be changed. I used my anger and hate to justify myself because I did not want to forgive my family.

This led me to seek pastoral counseling. I remember the first day I met with the pastor. I shared my issues and the hate that I had and confessed that I had the desire to commit suicide. I remember the first words out of his mouth. “John, your problem is you do not love yourself enough.” I knew this was a lie. I knew I did love myself, because I did not want to give up hate. I did not want to give up hate if I had to forgive. I made the choices in my life. Wicked and wrong things happened to me; many people, even friends, betrayed me and I chose to hate even more. It was when I read the Scriptures myself, that I knew the only way I was to be set free was to yield to Jesus Christ and have Him come into my life and give me a new heart and new spirit (Ezekiel 36:25–28). This is why Jesus said:

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” ( John 3:3 nkjv).

Then He spoke a parable to them: “No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. “But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. And no one, having drunk old wine, imme- diately desires new; for he says, “The old is better.” Luke 5:36–39

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Jesus says unless we are born to the Spirit of God and let him cleanse us and make us new, we cannot receive His teachings. Jesus even said many people would rather partake of the old, because they are still in love with it, instead of the new, which would save them (Luke 5:37–39).

Now we may say, how does this say self-esteem is wrong? I say this because if we are going to continue to let mans philoso- phies determine our life; we will continue to make excuses for ourselves.

Let us ask a question, “Who does self-esteem focus own?” Self! Another question, “What is self-esteem to do?” To cause you to accept yourself and who you are. When coming to Christ, there is the understanding that you must accept who you are as a sinner, but not the acceptance to live for yourself. Self-esteem teaches to live for self.

Let’s ask another question, “When you offend someone and he has something against you, what do you do?” You go to the person you offended and seek to right the offense. We have offended God by our sin, and no matter how much we can self- esteem, self-love or self-forgive, we cannot cause God to excuse our offense against Him. We must come to Him according to His prescribed way through Jesus Christ, to receive the love and forgiveness we need. We need His acceptance of us, and we need His cleansing for our sin.

Looking at Ephesians one:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined

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us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth––in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. Ephesians 1:3–14 nkjv

It is through Jesus Christ that we have love, forgiveness, and acceptance through Him. Paul writes all spiritual blessings are given to you. So now we ask the question, “What more can I do or add to my life to benefit my life in Christ since He has done all for me?” Nothing. So we conclude no amount of self-love, self-esteem, and self-forgiveness can help me or help Jesus make me a better person, I must live by His life in me.

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Jesus never taught self-esteem or self-love. He taught us we should deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Jesus and love God and love others. Let’s look at these scriptures:

Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Luke 9:23

And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. Luke 14:27

Jesus says if we want to be His disciple, we must deny ourselves and pick up our cross and follow Him. What does deny mean? It means we need to reject making excuses, our sinful behavior, our philosophies and ideas. Picking up our cross means to be crucified to the old life of sin, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). To follow Jesus means to learn of Him; He is your tutor, He is your master, and He will bring you into pleasant pastures of abundant life.

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28–30

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Jesus says we need to come to Him and learn of Him. It is His teachings, His Word, that is new and needs to go into our new body. If we continue to believe we need to love ourselves so our life will be better, we will find we have to do it more and more to fulfill ourselves. We need to learn to love like Jesus, which is unselfish. If we love others so we can love ourselves more, our motive is not them but self, so this self-love will lead us to destruction.

Jesus said the greatest commandment is this:

I have heard Christian psychologists say, “You need to love yourself before you can love others,” and they use verse thirty-nine to prove it. Yet when we look at this scripture, we see it is not yourself that needs love, but your neighbor. We already love ourselves; loving our neighbor is what is needful. The other problem is when we say we need to love self before loving others. Doesn’t this elevate our love for self over loving God? Isn’t our neighbor a person, so God who is a person is our neighbor, so then we cannot love God until we love ourselves? Jesus said the first and greatest commandment is to love God. So how can we say we need to love ourselves before loving another person? Isn’t there a contradiction to what Jesus taught and what man teaches? There certainly is.

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Man, in his basic nature to serve self, loves to twist things and give another interpretation to what God said. This is what Satan did in the garden in twisting God’s Word to deceive Eve into disobeying God.

Jesus also said:

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 16:25–26

Unless we are surrendering to Jesus as our Lord and Master, we will not save our life, but if we do, we shall save our life and have an eternity in His presence. The other reason we should not love our life above God is when the challenge to think our ways are better than His, we will choose to love ourselves or others or the world over Him.

If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. Luke 14:26–27

We may think this is harsh, but Jesus is not saying not to love them, for this would contradict His command to love our neighbor. What He is saying is if we chose to love others above

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Him, we are doing the wrong thing. We see this in the account with Adam and Eve in the garden. Adam chose to disobey God because his wife ate of the fruit. He did a sacrificial act of love toward her, but it was in disobedience to God’s command. We can never know what would have happened if Adam had not eaten and they had not blamed each other for their sin, but we may speculate that things might have been a little better, if they would have just obeyed rather than give in to the temptation.

It was the very act of self–love that led Eve to eat of the tree. Satan deceived her into believing the fruit was good and it would better her life. Satan put the idea into her mind that she was discontented and incomplete in God creating her. Yet when God finished creating all things on earth, He said, “It is very good,” meaning Eve was complete and Adam was complete. She took her eyes off her completion in God, to put on another per-son she thought was more desirable. Who was that person? Self.

Unless Jesus is the completion in our lives, we will be ever be seeking the new thing in our life to satisfy us, yet if we hear and understand the words Jesus says and receive them, we would understand “Jesus completes me.”

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:37–39

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Nowhere in the Scriptures can we find a prophet, Jesus, or an apostle say or teach us the need to love self before others. They always taught to fulfill the Law by loving God and others. On the contrary, the scripture in Revelation says the martyrs were victors because of loving Jesus Christ and not loving their life.

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death” (Revelation 12:11 nkjv).

See, the issue is when we choose to love ourselves before God and man, we are focused upon self. Then when we are focused upon self, we seek those things that would ful ll our needs or lusts. We come up with ideas believing, “God would not want me to suffer or be unhappy” or “God helps those who help them- selves.” These ideas focus on what would make us happy in place of what would please God and how we can be complete in Christ understanding His ways. When we are focused upon self, we will choose to marry the wrong person; we will involve ourselves in things that are not pure. We seek the things that would please ourselves; this is why Jesus didn’t come in some fanfare of spectacular lights, because we would be enamored with the sensational in place of Him and His character. The Scripture says He had no beauty that would cause people to desire Him (Isaiah 53:2). This is because it was His life within the body He lived in that was to enlighten our hearts to what true life was and that was being focused on God’s will, not our own. Man has not esteemed Jesus with the glory that He deserves. We perceive that the life Jesus lived, always pleasing the Father, is not good for all of us. The problem is that we desire to esteem ourselves and concern ourselves with what others would think of us rather than seeking the glory and praise that comes from God. Jesus said:

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“How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?” (John 5:44 nkjv)

Placing ourselves before God is the honor of self, and in this we will choose the world and its ways over what God says. This is where self-help groups and recovery groups go wrong; they focus on the problem in place of the solution. Trying to be free from something that we are fearful of doing will always keep us in bondage. Fear or regrets are the debilitating issue from which we can never be free. The solution is Jesus Christ. He paid in full the penalty for our sin. Once and for all it is paid for; the past, the present, and the future sin are paid for. Once we have placed our lives into the hands of the living God Jesus Christ, we are in good hands. He who God sets free is free indeed. What Jesus did on the cross broke the bands by which we were bound to the Law, to sin, and the power of death. These things cannot hold us any longer. Once we place our lives into the hands of God, our sinful nature has died to power over you and we have become alive to the Spirit of God the power to live for Him. Then God will give us a new heart and new spirit and write His commands on our heart and spirit. What is His command? The command is to love God first and others second. Look at these scriptures:

Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ,

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we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. Romans 6:4–14 (Italics Emphasized)

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Galatians 2:20

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self– control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Galatians 5:22–25

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When we choose to live in Christ and in the Spirit, we do not have to live in sin or in our pasts or our regrets. Fear and anxiousness have no hold on us.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” 2 Corinthians 5:17 nkjv

We are no longer bound to the old life; we are free to live in the new life. Let us now choose whom we will serve. We will still have to deal with trials and temptations in the flesh, but we are no longer ruled by them. Sin has no power over us, we only have to submit ourselves to God, resist the devil’s temptations, and our lust, and we will see God lift us out of the temptation. James 4:7–10

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. 1 Corinthians 10:13

When we place our sights and ambitions on Jesus Christ, our thoughts and our ways of acting will start to change because we are not looking for self to complete us; but we are looking for Jesus to complete us. Look at these scriptures:

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For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. Titus 2:11–14

Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? Hebrews 12:2–7

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings

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are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 1 Peter 5:6–10

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:1–3

These scriptures tell us not to make self a priority, but to think of, care for, and act for God’s good pleasure. But we say, “What about what I want? What about my needs?” What about them? Have we not died to our desires for God’s desires? Trust what Jesus said:

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6:33–34

Trust Jesus. For when we choose to place our lives into His hands, we will find worries and troubles disappear and He gives us His peace.

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Demon Possession

Demon possession is a real thing. We in America do not see this very often. Yet in other nations, like Haiti, it is well known because of the occult and witchcraft. We in America are still kind of mild in our understanding to it, and how to delve deeply into it. I do know some people who have dealt with the occult and have not been demon possessed, but have felt the control of demons in their lives. We know through Scripture in the gospels that there were many Israelites possessed by demons. Mary Magdalene was a person who had seven demons. The Gadarene man had a legion of demons in him so powerful chains could not hold him. Upon Jesus’s arrival, these demons would make themselves known and Jesus would cast them out of the person.

Many churches teach demon possession can happen with a Christian. Some also teach that demons are responsible for a Christian being an alcoholic, an addict, and all other types of things. Many churches have deliverance meetings to cast out these demons. There is no scriptural foundation for any of these ideas. This, again, is the issue of placing blame on the devil for their sin.

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The Scriptures are quite clear; we are tempted by our own desires. This is not to say that the demonic realm does not tempt, but it is our choice to disobey God. It was not the demon of impulsive eating that Eve was possessed with that caused her to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. It was the thought that she could become something better and become a god. She took it hook, line, and sinker. Adam and Eve were both cast out of the garden and had died spiritually to God and then die physically. They were disciplined for their actions.

There is a difference between Christians and Israelites. Christians receive the Spirit of God at conversion, where only a few Israelites received the Spirit of God in or upon their lives in the Old Testament times. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is the inner working of the Holy Spirit, in which He lives and resides within a believer. When the prophets experienced the Holy Spirit, it was very rarely inward, but rather came upon the prophet. This is because Christ had not been crucified yet to purchase of our redemption so we all can have life with and in God again ( John 7:38–39). Any Israelite who was not walking in the ordinances of God was outside the protection of God. Like the adulterous man in 1 Corinthians 5 who Paul said to cast out so he would be tormented by Satan, to the saving of his soul. The adulterous man repented and was restored into the church. Certainly this man was not demon possessed, but he was affected by outward demonic activity, to a point where he knew he was outside God’s protection and providence.

When we play with the occult, or anything of the like, we have no idea what kind of effects demons can have upon us. This is probably the case with the Israelites who were demon possessed. When Jesus came on the scene, each time these demons were confronted, they were cast out. What does this teach you?

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It teaches us that no demon can have any presence in the sight of God. So the question comes to be, how can a demon possess a Christian who has asked Jesus to come into his heart, when God resides in him? The answer is: the demon cannot. It is impossible for a demon to live in a Christian or to be the cause of a believer to partake in any sin he is not in control of. John said, “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4 nkjv).

Jesus is greater than any demon. To say a Christian was demon possessed, or a demon of sin made a Christian do it would be incorrect. Jesus was accused of being demon possessed and He told His accusers that it was not true.

Then the Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. “And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges.” John 8:48–50

Others spoke up for Jesus when accused again of being demon possessed.

And many of them said, “He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?” Others said, “These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” John 10:20–21

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Does it make sense that God Almighty would allow a demon to possess and control one of his own children. Satan certainly didn’t think so, because he didn’t ask that question from God, when he wanted to prove Job a fake. There are no scriptural examples of believers possessed by demons. There are examples of demonic activity to tempt, to destroy, or to cause circumstances in a believer’s life; but never in possession. David, as a believer, did not commit adultery, lying, and murder because he was demon possessed. He was tempted by the desires in his heart. James says so:

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full–grown, brings forth death. James 1:13–15

James says the reason for our temptation is the desire within us. God told Cain he must master it (Genesis 4). James says again that sin is the problem.

Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?

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Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:1–6

James then says the reason we have these problems is because we are not a doer of the Word. He says every perfect gift comes from God. The gift is the Holy Spirit and peace. How can a Christian have peace with God with a demon tormenting them?

Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. James 1:16–25

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James says we are blessed when we are doers of God’s Word; so if a Christian is walking with God, how can he be blessed with having a demon within causing him to sin? It cannot be.

Jesus spoke about cleansing a person of demons:

“But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils. He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters. When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came. And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.” And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!” But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

Luke 11:20–28

Jesus says this man can be in danger of being possessed by a greater force than before, but if he does what? He can be demon possessed again because he does not place something else into his life. The woman here was enamored with Jesus’s teaching and cried out her words, but Jesus explained it is not the birth,

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or the mother that is blessed, but it is those who hear the Word of God and keep it. Jesus answered the question of what the demon possessed person needed after cleansing. It was the Word of God having princely rule coming into that person’s life, and the person being radically changed. We know who the Word of God is, Jesus, the Word made flesh. When a Christian is living in the Word of God, hearing and applying what He has said, that Christian will be blessed.

In the garden, God said there would be conflict of interest between Satan and Jesus:

“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15 nkjv).

Jesus even prays for the saints, who are His, that the world and Satan would not have any foothold on them. Jesus says they are no longer of the world.

I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. John 17:14–17

Our victory over the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is in the love of God and the keeping of His commandments.

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Some churches teach we may have a generational sin within us. They use the verse:

“For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me” (Exodus 20:5 nkjv).

This is not so either, for we do not hate God and because Jesus took all the curses of the believer upon Himself. For the Scripture says:

“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us” (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”) (Galatians 3:13 nkjv).

Man is constantly trying to put blame on something else; this is our sinful nature, and just as Adam and Eve did in the garden, blaming one another. We were born sinners, and in this flesh we will always have desires for sin; but we have been set free from the power of sin by Jesus Christ. John says it in his letter to the saints.

For this is the love of God, that we keep His command- ments. And His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 1 John 5:3–5

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Prosperity

It is taught in many churches and TV ministries that Christians are supposed to be rich. When teaching about being rich, they are teaching about wealth financially, living in a wealthy home, and about living in divine health. They teach, as a Christian living in the wealthiest nation in the world, we should not be living in sickness or in trial with finances, and that if we do, we are lacking in faith and probably living in sin.

These are false premises. They have no biblical foundation and should not be in the believer’s life. These teachings play upon our physical desires and social ideas to manipulate people to the ideas of prosperity. These teachers are self-motivated and self-promoting. They look to fill their bank accounts and live in their luxury. Look at them; they are living in million dollar homes and or multiple homes. They have luxurious vehicles. They go on luxurious vacations and travel. Are they living like Jesus who became poor so that others may become rich?

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They teach that Jesus was rich. They believe because Jesus had this costly one piece garment, He was wealthy. They believe that because Jesus had a treasurer, He and the apostles were rich. Yet Jesus said:

And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head’” (Matthew 8:20 nkjv).

I will show more Scripture concerning the true riches of God. The prosperity teachers use scriptures like:

“Give and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” Luke 6:38

They teach that God is obligated to return to the giver when they give to Him.

Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, “In what way have we robbed You?” In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.

Malachi 3:8–10

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They teach that if we are not giving to God and especially to their ministry, then we are robbing God. They say to test God and God will prove it; He has to respond to our faith. Yet the Old Testament Scripture says, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 6:16).

Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God; for He has given you the former rain faithfully, and He will cause the rain to come down for you–the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. The threshing floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil. “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; and My people shall never be put to shame. Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: I am the Lord your God and there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame. Joel 2:23–27

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

John 10:10

They will teach that God wants us to live in abundance of wealth, health, and goods, and that the Christian should be living rich because he is a king’s kid and king’s kids do not live in

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mediocrity. They use scriptures that were specifically given to Israel. Jesus wasn’t talking about life abundantly in the sense of the physical wealth and health, but in the spiritual sense.

So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. Matthew 21:21

They give scriptures like the one above that they interpret it to say, if we have faith, we should cast our mountain of lack of faith, poverty, or sickness into the sea. This scripture in context speaks about Israel’s rebellion and if we have a mountain of rebellion in our lives, it could be cast into the sea, if we would believe.

But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:5

They will say this is proof, “By his stripes we are healed.” Yet this scripture speaks about the healing of our sin and the healing being peace with God. They will use other scriptures to teach that God promises the believer to be rich.

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And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. Deuteronomy 8:18

Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the Lord blessed him. Genesis 26:12

So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you. Exodus 23:25

The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it. Proverbs 10:22

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. 3 John 1:2–4

“Well, look, these are God’s promises to you to make you rich and make you healthy. Even the Apostle John says he wants

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you to be prosperous and in health. He even says this is truth,” say the prosperity teachers.

I wonder why they do not have a complete understanding of Scripture. They fail to understand that not everyone in the Scriptures was healthy or wealthy. Many people were sick and lepers. Many were impoverished because of famines. Hezekiah was on his death bed, yet Isaiah did not rebuke him and say that if he had faith he would be healed. Jesus told the young rich ruler that if he wanted to be perfect to go sell all that he had, give to the poor, and then follow Him. Jesus didn’t say to give to His ministry and come follow Him. Jesus spoke about the poor widow woman being in poverty. Paul had his infirmity and prayed three times for God to remove it, but each time God said his grace was sufficient for him. Timothy had a stomach ailment and Paul did not say Timothy lacked faith and should repent and pray he would be healed. Epaphroditus risked his life to bring an offering from the Philippian Church to Paul. He was sick and near death because of the travel. Paul did not heal him. He probably prayed for him; but God was the one who restored his health. Peter, in Acts 3, when asked by the beggar for money said, “Silver and gold have I none.” This doesn’t sound like a man of God who is living in prosperity; Peter must have been living in sin. Peter hung out with Jesus; didn’t Peter learn from Jesus to be prosperous since Jesus was rich? There are more examples in Scripture that prove contrary to what the prosperity doctrine teaches.

Why do they teach this way? There are many reasons. One reason is because they see Jesus as their genie. They believe that when we rub God with our faith, God has to come out and give us our desires. They believe God has taught them how He created the world. They teach the idea since God spoke the world

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into existence that they can speak the word of faith or speaking the Word and it shall come to pass. God said His understanding is unsearchable.

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. Isaiah 40:28

These men teach things they do not understand. They have no control over God. They teach that God is obligated to earthly law. They take the idea that since God created the laws of gravity and we are bound by the law of gravity, so when God makes the law of faith, He is obligated by law to respond to your faith. The question I ask is, “Do we know the heart whether it was faith or a manipulative act to move God?” God is the one who searches the heart.

The second reason is prosperity teachers look to make gain from the uneducated. They have no shame in taking advantage of those who do not have a proper understanding of Scripture or are young in Christ. They love to feed off of needs, to motivate the unsuspecting person to risk. They will use hype, “the burden of the Lord,” “the Holy Spirit power,” or “the anointing” are upon them. They use music and great theatrics to move you to believe you can have prosperity if you start giving. They also have their written testimonies saying how someone gave a hundred dollars and a week later, received a thousand dollars. They have another letter written, “We planted a seed offering of one hundred dollars, and God healed my arthritis.” They use these

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letters to manipulate the unsuspecting believer to believe God works through them and will do the same for them, if they give to their ministry. The Scriptures teach about this greed.

For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ. 2 Corinthians 2:17

The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely. Philippians 1:16a

Paul says they are those who teach the Word of God for money, insincerely.

The third reason they fail to teach properly is because they have their theology incorrect. They have been taught that all the promises of God to Israel in the Old Testament have become the promises of the church. This is called replacement theology. They believe that because Israel rejected Jesus as the Messiah, they forfeited their rights to the promises of God and God no longer works to save Jews. So we have Christians claiming Israel’s promises for themselves. This is why we have this “positive profession” or “name and claim it” doctrine in the church. God never teaches positive profession, He teaches us to believe, trust, respond, and yield ourselves to Him. God shall bless those who honor Him according to His will. No one can claim a promise written in the Scriptures that God has not promised to them. As I wrote earlier, Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Not my will, but your will be done.”

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“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (1 John 5:14nkjv).

God gives us prosperity and health according to His will. If we belong to Him and we are his servant, can’t God do with us what He pleases, as He did with Job? God used Paul as His servant to preach the gospel while he had to deal with suffering. God told Paul in advance that he would suffer (Acts 9). Paul was beaten, shipwrecked in the sea, chased by robbers, and left for dead. All these things God used for the furtherance of the gospel. Paul rejoiced in his suffering for it brought him to a greater knowledge of the love of Christ in his life (Philippians 3:7–14). This is why he could write to the Romans:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35–39

The prosperity teachers have it all wrong; their teachings believe that God came to bless them with riches, health, and good things. Yet the Scriptures teach that God came to save us from our selfishness and sin, to deliver us to live in the power of

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Christ led by the Holy Spirit unto good works, not to fatten our pockets and bellies.

We all used God for our purposes before we came to Christ. How many of us have asked God for something and made a vow to serve Him if God would work on our behalf. We then saw God answer our prayer, but we did not keep our promise. These people continue to err in the same idea. They go into third world nations and teach the same heresy to thieve from them. They make a mockery of Christianity.

These teachers have no understanding of God.

“O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jeremiah 10:23nkjv).

How can these men presume to know God and to command Him to do their will? Here it states man cannot even direct his own steps; this is why we need to learn from Jesus to walk uprightly.

This is just one of the types of filthy comforters that God hates. They are always speaking about peace and saying the sword will not come upon America, and God is not done with America. We must take this nation for Jesus. These teachers do not teach about the second coming, or about the great tribula- tion coming to this world. They have huge audiences and they would rather tickle people’s ears with words of peace and prosperity than prove to them the signs of the times and the soon return of Jesus. This is exactly what the Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes failed to see; the signs of Jesus’s first coming, and then they chose to crucify Him.

These people have walked in the imagination of their own heart.

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And like their bow, they have bent their tongues for lies. They are not valiant for the truth on the earth. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know Me,” says the Lord. Jeremiah 9:3

The scriptures warn us to watch out for these people and to not follow after their ways.

If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself. 1 Timothy 6:3–5

Paul says to withdraw from those who teach that gain means godliness. Paul says to hold to doctrine which favors godliness.

Holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict. For there are many insub- ordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain. Titus 1:9–11

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Paul told Titus to hold to sound doctrine and to exhort and convict those who contradict it. He warns Titus of those who fleece the sheep for dishonest gain. Peter says to elders, pastors, and teachers of Scripture:

The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being Lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 1 Peter 5:1–3

Are these TV evangelists or pastors suffering? Are they giving the whole council of God, teaching the Word of God, line upon line, precept upon precept? Paul, for three years, warned the Ephesian Church of heresy and false prophets. He did not fail to give them the whole council of God (Acts 20).

I fear for these prosperity teachers; for some may enter into the kingdom, but find their works were burned up because their works were hay and stubble.

1 Corinthians 3

Yet some will not enter into the kingdom of God, for they have caused God’s little ones to stumble, and we know what Jesus said about those who did. “It would be better for a millstone to be tied around their neck and cast into the sea.

Matthew 18

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Jesus warned those in leadership over others:

“Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. But if that evil servant says in his heart, My master is delaying his coming, and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 24:44–51

Jude tells us these men are grumblers and complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage (Jude). Peter says, “They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness” (2 Peter 2).

George Mueller had five homes of orphans. He and several people serving in the homes took care of these kids. He was always praying for the finances and food for the home. Sometimes widows would come and bring an offering to help in the service. Mr. Mueller would turn them down because he knew they needed it to survive. He believed in not taking from them who could not afford giving. How many of these TV evangelists

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would say on TV not to give to their ministry if we could not afford it? They are always challenging the people to give, to exercise their faith, and promising that God will bless them double to a hundred fold.

Read these Old Testament scriptures about those who served for the purpose of pay.

Her heads judge for a bribe, her priests teach for pay, and her prophets divine for money. Yet they lean on the Lord, and say, “Is not the Lord among us? No harm can come upon us.” Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed like a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the temple like the bare hills of the forest. Micah 3:11–12

With your wisdom and your understanding You have gained riches for yourself, and gathered gold and silver into your treasuries; by your great wisdom in trade you have increased your riches, and your heart is lifted up because of your riches),” ‘Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Because you have set your heart as the heart of a god, behold, therefore, I will bring strangers against you, The most terrible of the nations; and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom, and defile your splendor. Ezekiel 28:4–7

As God brought the Babylonian empire against Judah for such things, so God has brought these ministries under investigation.

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Are these the people Paul was warning about who are always learning but never coming to the knowledge of truth?

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self–control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 2 Timothy 3:1–7

Now what does the Scripture reveal to us concerning our true wealth and health? When we first read the scriptures, as I spoke about Adam and Eve, Eve was deceived into believing she was incomplete without the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This is what these prosperity teachers teach; you are incomplete in Christ without health and wealth. I wrote it earlier, “Jesus completes me.” This is the true health and wealth Jesus came into the world to teach us. God spoke to Abraham saying:

Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And

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you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Genesis 12:1–3

When we first read these scriptures, our first hope is, we would like this same promise applied to our lives. God does bless Abraham with riches, but the true riches are revealed when God says to Abraham:

“After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward” (Genesis 15:1 nkjv).

Abraham just came back from battling with an enemy who took captive his nephew Lot. Earlier in his days, he went to Egypt in fear of the famine in the land of Canaan. Abraham manipulated the Egyptians into believing Sarah was not his wife, because she was beautiful and he thought he would be killed. God protected Sarah and Pharaoh kicked Abraham out of Egypt with great wealth. When Abraham was approached by the king of the people whom he had set free with Lot, they sought to give him wealth. Abraham replied (Genesis 14), “I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth, that I will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, and that I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, I have made Abram rich.” Abraham had learned his lesson; it is God who would make him rich; not others, not the world.

When God spoke to Abraham, God said, “I am your shield and exceeding great reward.” God is saying, “I am your sufficiency, I am all you need.” This is what the Scriptures teach

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throughout. All that we need, all that we want, is in the sufficiency of Jesus Christ. God told Moses to speak to the people of Israel saying, “I am that I am has sent me” (Exodus 3). Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd, I am the Gate, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, before Abraham I Am.” Jesus is the picture that the Old Testament Scripture describes. Jesus is our hope, Jesus is our life, Jesus is our blessing, and Jesus our completion.

Paul was always speaking about growing in the knowledge of Christ.

For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. Colossians 1:9–12

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.

Ephesians 1:17–18

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For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. Ephesians 3:14–20

The joy Paul found in Christ was in learning of Him and being in fellowship with Him. What a lively hope he had for the believer to understand that Jesus is his life; He is his “I Am.” Paul desired for all those he came in contact with to know this. This was his motivation to share the gospel. Oh, how he longed for the saints to know this, not merely to have knowledge of it. Too many people have knowledge of “Christ in us the hope of glory,” but do not know it. They are still trying to entertain themselves with other things. God has given them things to enjoy, but not with the understanding that they replace Him. When we come to know Him, all which we enjoy on this earth is greater because of Him. To see, hear, touch, smell, and taste in experiencing these things can be understood greater in Christ. Yet we must also remember these things do not compare with the glory we shall have in glory with Christ. These are but a fraction of the joy we shall have with Him. But there is nothing

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that we can enjoy in this world that does not have greater under- standing in the spiritual to see, hear, taste, smell, and touch God through knowing Him. This is the true riches.

Jesus said the poor you will have with you always (Matthew 26). Jesus also praises those who feed the poor, gave a drink to the thirsty, house a stranger, visited the prisoner, and clothed the homeless (Matthew 25). Jesus says these people will be in the world and in the church.

Jesus does care about your needs on earth, but He says:

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33 nkjv). Make our priority to be known and live for Jesus according to His ways, and we can be sure we will be provided for. Paul said:

Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:11–13

Paul learned to be content in whatever situation he was in; he did not say it was easy, but he learned he could do all things through Christ who strengthened him. Paul and Peter spoke about being rich in all that God had given them.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3 nkjv).

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“As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue” (2 Peter 1:3 nkjv).

So Paul said:

“Now godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6 nkjv).

“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21 nkjv).

In the Scriptures, the rich are warned not to trust in their riches. God does not say we cannot be rich. God does bless people with wealth. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were rich. David was taken from being a lowly shepherd to becoming king of Israel. He died rich and in peace. Solomon was rich upon taking over the kingdom. He started out well in humility and God promised to bless him with wealth, yet Solomon forgot God’s commands and compromised his life for ungodly living.

Look at these warnings:

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 1Timothy 6:9–10

Paul does not say money is evil, but the love of money is:

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! Your riches are corrupted, and

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your garments are moth–eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. James 5:1–3

James warns you not to trust your money to solve your problems. Jesus says the same thing; it may even choke the rich away from God:

And the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

Mark 4:19

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Matthew 19:23–24

Jesus says that those having riches will find it hard to enter into the kingdom of God even to be impossible; yet, when the disciples asked Him who then can enter, Jesus said:

“With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26 nkjv).

God never says we cannot be rich, but what He does say is, “Do not forget who has entrusted us with it. Do not forget

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who gave His life for us.” As God was generous to give us life abundantly more than we deserve, forget not His love, nor His generosity.

I have seen many people come to Christ, barely having anything, and almost losing spouse and family. The whole family would come to receive Christ, their lives would start to change, and God would bless the husband with a good paying job. Their marriage became well and then the children became involved in the church. Then, when all was going well, they forgot God and started serving themselves again. Not much later, the parents were separate and the kids, as adults, would go their own ways. The mother is the only one still following.

I know women of such great faith and strength in the Lord who have the joy of the Lord and serve with delight to God; yet they do not make much money to support themselves. They give to the church, barely have a working vehicle, but they faithfully go to work and are faithful in the church and prayer meetings.

I see families just barely out of poverty giving to the Lord, serving in the church, loving their families, and having the joy of the Lord in their lives. Sometimes they are the recipients of others giving them gleanings from their prosperity. Having the poor is not a problem in the church; it is an exercise of love and faith for them and for the rich.

Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. 1Timothy 6:17

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Paul spoke:

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9

Becoming poor is laying down our life to make another person’s life better. Our riches may not necessarily be in blessings on this earth, but blessings in spiritual places. This is what Jesus did. Jesus taught quite the opposite of the prosperity teachers. We do not see Peter, Paul, or the apostles growing in wealth and health; just the opposite. They were persecuted, beaten, and imprisoned; yet they were content to be persecuted and to rejoice that they were found worthy.

Jesus said we will be rewarded in this world if we choose to live generously.

So He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, “who shall not receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life.” Luke 18:29–30

Paul taught to follow the example of Jesus:

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the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Philippians 2:5–8

What did Jesus teach us in His example? Jesus didn’t think Himself above anyone else or of more importance because He was God or wealthy; but He became a servant, even a servant unto death on the cross. How can we, being rich or poor, follow this example? The example we follow is not dependant on being rich or poor, but becoming a servant to pick up our cross and give help to others, even if it means losing our life, property, and wealth. God has given us wisdom; there is a time to give and a time to refrain from giving, there is a time to live and a time to die. James says if any may lack wisdom, let him ask of God who gives liberally (James 1).

We need to learn to be content in whatever situation God wants us to live. This means being content with or without riches and health. Most of the time we see money and health problems as issues we bring upon ourselves; yet God does not condemn us. God still wants us to press on toward His goal; even if we foolishly spend our finances, lose our job, and/or make our own problems of health deficiencies. God can overcome all these obstacles and work in our lives. All we need to do is place our trust in Christ. This doesn’t mean it will be easy, but wait on the Lord; He is the one who opens and closes doors to bring His best for those who are His. These can be one of the ways God is bringing us into proper relationship with Him, to discipline us. God in His wisdom knows how to help anyone and to solve their issues, if there is a yielding and waiting for Him.

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But as it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.

1 Corinthians 2:9

Another word for love is “waiting” as written in Isaiah 64:4. If we are going through tribulation, ask Jesus to give us his peace, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Phillipians (4:7)

And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

Yet if you are rich and have no need, look at these scriptures:

Do not trust in oppression, nor vainly hope in robbery; if riches increase, do not set your heart on them. Psalms 62:10

A faithful man will abound with blessings, but he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished. Proverbs 28:20

Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in

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which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his heritage. As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor–this is the gift of God. For he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life, because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart. Ecclesiastes 5:18–20

We need to learn not to take advantage of riches for ourselves, nor be irresponsible with our health; but whatever God has given us, it is our freedom to use it with thankfulness and joy.

God has given us wisdom and intelligence. He calls us to be responsible. He has given us the responsibility to walk in His ways, take care of family, be faithful in all, to care for ourselves, and learn to be generous while storing up treasures in heaven. I am sure that if we place our heart in Christ we shall be a walking and pleasing Christian, having no fault or blame before Him or man.

In conclusion take courage:

Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness,

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being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen. 2 Peter 3:14–18

If you are interested in who is teaching prosperity teaching; take a look on the internet, look at Wikipedia, the free dictionary, and look up prosperity teaching.

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Slaying in the Spirit

As I have walked with the Lord for twenty-plus years, I realize as much as I educate myself in the scriptures to learn of Christ, I know I am maturing but also realize I am but a child in understanding the fullness of who God is. So I can understand we can fall prey to these things. Paul said that when he was a child, he thought like a child; but when he became mature, he put foolish things behind him. Slaying in the spirit, holy laughter, spirit drunkenness, and such are all but foolish childish things. These cause people to pay attention to them and give the others ideas that those involved are Spiritfilled. Using Scripture to justify these foolish ideas is just crazy.

Look at any scripture: when a person is falling down, if it is in reverence toward God, that person is always bowing or prostrating in His presence. The only place in the scriptures where people are falling backward is when Jesus was being arrested, when He said, “I Am.”

Isaiah did not fall backward in the presence of God (Isaiah 6). John did not fall backward in heaven (Revelation). When Jesus called His disciples, they did not fall backward (Matthew 10); neither did they fall backward when Jesus breathed on them

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to receive the Holy Spirit (John 20) or when they were baptized in the Holy Spirit (Acts 2).

When the baptism of the Holy Spirit came upon those in the upper room, it says the people mocked them saying they were drunk, but Peter explained that this was not the case. It is surprising that we do not think about a drunkard who when he is talking doesn’t make sense, but when the people heard the people in the upper room, they were able to understand them in their own languages, speaking the wonderful praises of God. In the scriptures speaking about being filled with the Spirit and not drunk with wine, they are not about being in the spirit like a drunken man, but being in the Spirit soberly.

“And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be fillled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18 nkjv).

Paul is telling us not to be like a foolish drunk but to live soberly, filled with the Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is self–control, not foolish control. I see these people acting like children, falling upon one another, knocking whole rows of people over with a swoosh of their hands. These are all psychologi- cal reactions that people are hoping and expecting to happen to them because they are looking for the signs and wonders. Jesus said that an evil and adulterous generation seeks after signs. Jesus said that the kingdom of God is within you. Elijah, at Mount Horeb, saw the fire, felt the earthquake, and heard the wind, but the Spirit of God wasn’t in any of them. Then a still small voice spoke, and this was the Spirit of God. Remember what Adam and Eve heard in the garden. They heard the voice of the Lord walking in the garden. Jesus did none of these things: no holy laughter, no swipe of His hands to knock down the crowds. Jesus didn’t hit people’s heads to see them fall backward. What did Jesus do? He was not flashy about His ministry but was humble

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to teach the Word of God with authority. If Jesus is our example as are the apostles, then why do we believe these things are scriptural?

I saw this behavior in the church. I went to one of these churches. I remember the letter going out telling church members not to try to prove whether this is scriptural, but to get involved with the new move of God. I remember my pastor telling me to go see this move of God happening at the Bible College: God is really moving over there. I went there several nights, it started at 7:00 p.m., and all I heard was the music but at 9:30 p.m. I left. Then after I left, I heard the stories of everyone falling down in the aisles; people were drunk in the spirit and doing all kinds of things. I guess I missed, or hindered, the work of that spirit. I thank God I do not partake of this stuff anymore.

When we are always searching for the supernatural, the spectacular, and all that foolishness, we become immature in our relationship with God. Although Israel heard the voice of God and the wonders on the mount less than forty days later, they were making a golden calf to worship and to defile themselves in all types of debauchery. Paul’s life motivation was to know the fellowship of Christ’s suffering, to know the power of the resurrection, and to press on toward the goal God had called him heavenward in Christ Jesus.

It is these people who cast off doctrine and cast off the Word of God for experiences in this world that they will not experience with Christ in heaven. I heard from one person, “Your church worships the Bible too much, that is their problem.” The Bible is the Word of God to which we balance our lives and by which we examine them if we are living godly and sincerely in love with Christ. If we are accused of worshipping the Bible over the supernatural folly; so be it. It is those who lack in understanding

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of the Scriptures who have to give an account of their actions. Like the Corinthian believers who could not handle meat, but were as babes in Christ, acting like children in sin, and in the use of the gifts of the Spirit, they could not judge what was right or wrong among them; nor did they know what love was.

Let us follow the ways of Jesus and the apostles; if they practiced it and it was good and beneficial, then practice it, but if it is something that Jesus and the apostles never did, then it may not be something we need to have to live godly.

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Replacement Theology

How many times have you heard something and then misunderstood what you heard? In some cases, there is a lack of clear communication by the speaker, but mostly there is a lack of proper listening. Many times, we have preconceived ideas because we like our own ideas or we just do not want to acknowledge the truth. We tend to want to hear what we want to hear and block out the rest. We all make mistakes; yet we need to put in the effort to learn to communicate and listen better. This is pride getting in the way of writing things down and making things of importance. We do not take things seriously, so we trivialize the importance in bettering ourselves in the areas of listening and communicating. We all have our downfalls, but the issue is re–evaluating and correcting the problem.

Many people when looking at the Bible believe it to be fiction, as a story, as a book that only holy people (pastors, priests) can understand; which only the educated in the Scriptures can understand; yet God had the Scriptures written for everyone. Yes, there are hard things to understand, but many times we

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make it too hard. God promised in His Word that He will reward those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).

God wrote the Scriptures for the ordinary man to understand. Many times, when we come to the Scriptures, we start to look at them with a critical eye in place of understanding what the author did. Even if we do not believe in God, the Bible is a book we can read to get understanding. When we pick up any book, one reason we decide to read it is to entertain ourselves in a story, like watching movies. The second reason is to gain knowledge and understanding. This is what we do in educating ourselves. If we are reading the Bible our first question should be, “What does it say?” and “What does it educate me about?” The other thing we have to ask is, “Is it true?” since it is written as a non-fiction book.

If we do not believe in God, we will probably put it back down because, from the beginning, the Bible calls man a sinner since Adam and Eve had sinned. If we read farther, it begins to sound legalistic, and we do not like to be ruled. If we understood what God laws were about; laws are not to enslave or place us into bondage, but to liberate and better a person’s life. If we continue, there are these judgments on a people group that did not heed God’s Word. When we read the Scriptures, we will only pay attention to God judging these people in place of realizing they were disobedient. Yet, most of all, often we forget how God used the prophets to proclaim the judgment, but He also used the prophets to proclaim peace to them if they would return to Him and how He would bring them back into His blessings.

Then, when we enter into the New Testament, there is this picture of a man who claimed to be God, did many wonderful works, taught great things, and then the religious leaders had this man crucified. The man rose from the dead, and the men

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who saw this man rise from the dead started a sect that taught the teachings of this man and proved through the Scriptures that He was the Messiah. Yet, when we read the last book, we read of devastation upon the earth, which is God’s wrath upon mankind for their wickedness. At the end, God creates a new heaven and earth for all those who loved Him and His appearing.

I hear it at times that the God of the New Testament is a different God from the God of the Old Testament. If we search the Scriptures, God says, which is, and which was, and which is to come; the Almighty or the same yesterday, today, and forever. To say God is a different God in each book is a misconcep- tion. I say this because we see the love of God when He set Israel free from slavery and He promised He would take care of them. All He asked of Israel was to obey. When Israel chose to disobey; did God choose to annihilate these people? No, He allowed them to go their own way, to show them that their ways lead to bondage, not unlike the way drinking alcohol can lead a person to bondage in alcoholism. Yet, when Israel realized the error of her ways and called upon God, God would ask her to change her ways back to His and then He would deliver her from bondage. God warned about her disobedience. He sent messengers commanding the Israelites to return, but the people would not return. Then God had to deport them from the land He promised to them because they cared not to respect the covenant He gave them. Remember, God set them free. God gave the rules and He made a covenant with them to which they said, “Everything you say we shall do.” God, then in contract with Israel, brought them into the Promised Land. Then, when Israel entered into the Promised Land, they chose to break their cov- enant with God by disobedience. Ask the question, who was in the right: God or Israel?

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When we fail to realize our tendency to rebel and how it leads us to destruction, we will gladly see ourselves in a better light than we should. When a person can come to the truth, then there is a possibility that this person can be set free. This is the picture God gives in the Scriptures. The question of reading the Scriptures is what does the book say and teach? Not what our misconceived ideas are.

Israel failed to see the suffering Messiah in the Scriptures who would set them free from the power of sin and death. Israel failed to understand that they were sinners not any better than any other person, but they were chosen to bring representation of God’s ways. They failed to see that they needed a true sacrifice that would remove their sins, which was Jesus’s death once on the cross for their redemption, in place of a continual offering of animals, which could not pay their penalty. The animals did not sin; man did. So God, in His love, had to become a man who never committed sin, to take man’s place in death, so that man could have a way to God if he would choose to receive this. This is what the Scriptures teach. Jesus died so we may have life, and if we do not receive His sacrifice for our sin, then we will have to pay it ourselves. God has no desire for anyone to go this path, but He gives every man the freewill to make their own choice.

Israel’s only focus was for the Messiah to come into the world and set them free from Roman rule. The people knew they once were a free nation with no other nation ruling over them during the time of David. So they were looking for the son of David the Messiah to come and raise up Israel once again as a sovereign nation. Now, the Scriptures do teach this is going to happen, but at the end of the age.

What I am saying is that we must not look at the Scriptures as a way to profit ourselves; if we do, we will miss what God is

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looking to say to us. Looking at the Scriptures for the intent to please ourselves will lead us to misinterpret the Scriptures. Israel not only misunderstood that Jesus was the Messiah; but, they hated gentiles, because it is believed to be stated in the Mishnah that gentiles had one purpose: to be used for fuel for hell. Yet, the Scriptures are full of promises for gentiles to come to Christ.

And said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—“blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” Genesis 22:16–18

When Israel read this, all they saw was that they were to be blessed because Abraham obeyed. Yet, when we read it through again, it says, “All the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” This is why proper listening and reading are important. God did not fail to communicate; Israel failed to listen and understand. This is why God wrote the Scriptures, so that we could go back to it and prove what the Word of God says.

This is why we have so many controversies over the Scriptures: yes, there are issues that are colorful and not black–and– white, but these just show us our liberty in Christ. Yet it is the black–and–white areas of Scripture with which we struggle. Because the Scriptures set laws that we believe restrict us; so we misunderstand that they set boundaries that keep us from evil

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and harm; like children who fight against their parents’ rules to play within the fence so they are under protection.

To this day, even in the church, people still misunderstand John 3:16. What does this verse say?

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 nkjv).

It says God so loved the world. Who is the world? The world is all of mankind who needs a Savior. Why do they need a Savior? Sin, dishonor, and disobedience are the reason. Who has committed such acts? Mankind has committed these acts.

Why do I say the church still misunderstands John 3:16? In hate! Even today, there are millions of Christians, or those who call themselves Christians, who hate Israel. They believe because Israel crucified Jesus, that God has rejected Israel and has no plan to redeem them. This is incorrect, as Israel was incorrect about the gentiles. Again people have elevated themselves above others because they think themselves better. They fail to understand that all have sinned; God had placed His Son on the cross for the sin of the entire world; no one is excluded. It is a shame to see past preachers, commentators, as well as today’s so-called experts in the Scriptures who would hold Israel in contempt for crucifying Christ, when we all are guilty.

This is why we have “replacement theology.” Replacement theology takes Scriptures that were specifically given to Israel and re–interprets them as promises for the church. Look at these Scriptures; does it sound like God is done with Israel?

For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy;

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and if the root is holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.” Romans 11:15–26

Paul explains that Israel’s rejection is a blessing to the gentiles to receive Jesus Christ as Savior; but if the gentiles are foolish enough to live outside of the goodness of God, they shall also be cut off. Paul does say if Israel comes to believe, though they were cut off, they can be engrafted in again. Plus, Paul does say

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that in the end God will save Israel, yet we know only those who have believed in Jesus Christ.

But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. Romans 9:6–8

The promise of salvation is for those who believe in the seed who is Christ. Those who believe in the promise of the Son of God, they will enter; but those who believe their heritage is their blessing will not enter. Paul says it: only those who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:12–13

God is not done with Israel, just as He is not done with any soul living. If God so loved the world, He does not disqualify this people because they so far have rejected, if He did then we all would be disqualified from salvation because we all have rejected. We all were enemies of God. Just because the gentiles were ignorant of salvation and the Jews were educated in it, does

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not mean the Jews were the better. Wise or negligent we all are guilty; it is only by the grace of God that any one of us has come to Christ.

I am so blessed to have Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I did not choose Him on my own; I know I chose because He chose to love me. I have nothing to boast in. I also was an enemy of God under the just penalty of eternal torment in the lake of fire, but because I have believed, I received salvation through Jesus Christ!

Paul was an Israelite and said:

I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, “Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”? But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. Romans 11:1–6

God knows who are His and He knows who shall come to salvation. So if you have come to believe Jesus is your Savior, then you are His.

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“And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29 nkjv).

God does not esteem one people above another. He has placed Jew and gentile together in one body in Jesus Christ.

Therefore remember that you, once gentiles in the flesh––who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands––that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one (Jew and gentile), and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Ephesians 2:11–22

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The Scriptures are clear: it does not matter if you are gentile or Jew, you cannot enter the kingdom of God but through Jesus Christ. This is what the Scriptures teach.

For anyone of us in the church to apply Scripture promises made specifically to Israel to himself is incorrect. Scriptures which are specifically speaking about Israel can be applicable to our faith, but not by direct command of God. Take for instance the scripture from Jeremiah. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” This scripture in context is spoken to the captives who were deported to Babylon. Jeremiah 29:4 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon.” So Jeremiah 29:11 can be an encouragement for the Christian as God had a future and a hope for Israel, He has a future and a hope for the Christian. The Christian can understand this scripture to know God is thinking good thoughts about his children as He is for Israel.

God throughout Scripture promises to save Israel. Look at these verses, God says in the last days, in the end times He will save Israel.

When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice (for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them. Deuteronomy 4:30–31

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God says He will keep His covenant with Israel.

In reading Zechariah 14:1–21, God states that a remnant shall be saved out of Israel and He shall place His foot on the Mount of Olives and shall ght against the nations who ght against Jerusalem. Has this happened yet? Plus, He will change the face of the area and cause all nations to bow. I would hate to be among those who are ghting against Him, for they will dissolve. Did you see Raiders of the Lost Ark? The Nazis’ esh dissolved in the presence of God. Although this was a movie; this is what it was based on.

Now these are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel and Judah. “For thus says the Lord: ‘We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask now, and see, whether a man is ever in labor with child? So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins like a woman in labor, and all faces turned pale? Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; and it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. ‘For it shall come to pass in that day,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘That I will break his yoke from your neck, and will burst your bonds; Foreigners shall no more enslave them. But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them. ‘Therefore do not fear, O My servant Jacob,’ says the Lord, ‘nor be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from afar, and your seed from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return, have rest and be quiet, and no one shall make him afraid. For I am with you,’ says the Lord, ‘to save you; though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, Yet I will not make a complete end of you. But I will correct you in justice, and will not let you go altogether unpunished.’ “For thus says the Lord: ‘Your affiiction is incurable, your wound is severe. There is no one to plead

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your cause, that you may be bound up; you have no healing medicines. All your lovers have forgotten you; they do not seek you; for I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of your iniquities, because your sins have increased. Why do you cry about your affiiction? Your sorrow is incurable. Because of the multitude of your iniquities, because your sins have increased, I have done these things to you. ‘Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured; and all your adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; those who plunder you shall become plunder, and all who prey upon you I will make a prey. For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds,’ says the Lord, ‘Because they called you an outcast saying: “This is Zion; No one seeks her.”‘ “Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will bring back the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have mercy on his dwelling places; The city shall be built upon its own mound, and the palace shall remain according to its own plan. Then out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry; I will multiply them, and they shall not diminish; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small. Their children also shall be as before, and their congregation shall be established before Me; and I will punish all who oppress them. Their nobles shall be from among them, and their governor shall come from their midst; then I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach Me; For who is this who pledged his heart to approach Me?’ says the Lord. ‘You shall be My people, and I will be your God.’“ Behold, the whirlwind of the Lord goes forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind; it will fall violently on the head of the wicked. The fierce anger of the Lord will not return until He has done it,

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and until He has performed the intents of His heart. In the latter days you will consider it. Jeremiah 30:4–24 (Italics added for emphasis)

Has this happened yet? When we see what is happening in Israel today, we can see Jacob’s trouble. Most of the world condemns Israel. No matter how many human bombs, rockets, and bombs are sent into Israel to harm innocent civilians, when Israel tries to defend itself, it is condemned and looked upon as the aggressor. Now we can see their affiiction because of sin; yet God promises to save them, and He says He will perform it. This is not an allegory, this is a fact.

For the believer in Christ, the New Testament supersedes the Old Testament, for when we have died in the old man, and have been raised to life in Christ spiritually, or born–again, we are made alive to live in the New Testament or Covenant, by which we are saved by grace and not by the letter of the law. Israel is still under the Old Testament, for they have not received Christ into their hearts.

Let us be careful to first understand what the scripture teaches and then apply it to whom it is meant and then make an application to which we can be encouraged.

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In respect of holidays

Christmas

In evaluating anything, in judging according to what is just, pure, right, and true, we must look at what is taught. What does man teach and what does God teach? If you were to search the history of Christmas, this holiday has nothing to do with the birth of Jesus Christ. The idea of celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and trying to keep that the center of attention at the Christmas season is purely flesh (a work of our own hands) and I will prove it in this chapter. Nowhere in Scripture does God, Jesus, the apostles, or the first century church teach us to observe the birth of Jesus Christ as a celebration. The Bible does say to remember what Jesus Christ did for us. His birth is significant because it involves fulfillment of prophesy. The testimony of Jesus Christ starts with His birth coming into this world. Paul says that in like manner we should remember Jesus’s humility to humble Himself to become a servant (Philippians 2), even to become a baby for the purpose of the cross (John 12:27).

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If you research the history of Christmas, you find its origin in paganism. Christmas has its origin in Babel or Babylon. It is based on the celebration of the child of Nimrod, Tammuz, who was supposed to be virgin birthed by the Queen of heaven, Semiramis, also called Astarte or Easter. The Christmas tree, the wreath, the Yule log, the ham, and the lights all have their origin in some form of paganism. Most of all the articles on the Web, and articles in Christian or non–Christian magazines, support the historical facts that the celebration of Jesus’s birth at Christmas did not come about until 300 years after the birth of Jesus and did not become a declared holiday until the time of Emperor Justinian in the fifth century. Christmas became a holiday for Christians to attract pagans to come to church. This was a compromise of righteousness and truth that the church has cast off to be relevant with the world. This gathering of pagans coming into the church was not because they had come to know Jesus as their savior, but Jesus is the picture or completion of their pagan faith.

Let’s ask the first question, “What does Christmas mean?” If you separate the words you get, Christ and mass. Christ is a good word, speaking about our Savior, but “mass” is the celebration of the Eucharist, which I wrote about in the chapter “The Mass.” The refusal to accept that Jesus once died on the cross gives Catholicism the reason to say Mary is our intercessor, for how can Jesus be our intercessor when He is still dying for us? Did not Jesus rise from the dead? Is the grave still with His body? Is what is spoken of in Acts that Jesus ascended up to heaven false? Does not Jesus sit at the right hand of the Father making intercession for the saints?

My main reason for speaking about Christmas is not the historical understanding of it, but balancing the celebration of

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it. To balance it means to discern what is truly evil and what is our liberty, but most of all, what is God’s desire in us of celebrating it? Paul wrote we have liberty in Christ, but how far can our liberty go and how far is too far?

If you looked at each item of Christmas, we find a historical meaning and purpose. Now, if you were to judge the purpose of each item in its intended purpose, there is no sin or evil in it. Take, for instance, an evergreen tree. God created the evergreen tree and it was good. To pagans, the evergreen tree used in Christmas is believed to represent the resurrected life of Nimrod through the birth of Tammuz. It was believed that an evergreen tree had sprung out of a dead stump. This speaks of the death and resurrection of Nimrod, who is a type of antichrist in the Scriptures, for he hunted men, for he was a tyrant. The Yule log represents the death of Nimrod, deified as the sun–god, while the evergreen represents the slain god come to life being the new Nimrod. Christmas takes place at around the time of the winter solstice, where the sun’s light is the shortest day of the year; and then the conquering son, Tammuz, is resurrected to have victory, lengthening the sunlight to create longer days. Christmas Eve is the night of the burning of the Yule log, symbolizing Nimrod’s death, and then the next morning the life of Nimrod with the lights and the presents celebrating the birth of Tammuz. You can check all these facts on the Web, or read Alexander Hislop’s book The Two Babylons. This book will open your eyes to the reasons behind much of Catholicism and the holidays we celebrate.

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Now, I do not want to go into detail to how each part of Christmas is pagan; the question I want to ask is, “What is liberty?” Paul said:

For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Galatians 5:13

But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse. 1 Corinthians 8:8

This is the point I want to convey. If we put up a tree, decorate it with tinsel, lights, and put presents around it and gather around it in the morning and give each other gifts; does this make us better or worse? Paul spoke about conscience; if it offends a brother, then do not do it. It is not the ham or the glitter of Christmas that is wrong, but the heart. There is no evil in a tree, a ham, or in presents; but the evil part of Christmas is Santa. Why do I say that? Think about what all the stories and all the songs say about Santa. Take the children’s song, “Santa Claus is coming to town.”

“You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I’m telling you why: Santa Claus is coming to town. He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows when you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake.”

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What do these lyrics teach about Santa? One: he sees everything, second: he knows everything, and third: he judges everything. What attributes then are given to Santa? The attributes given to Santa are that he is omnipresent, omnipotent, and he is judge of the world. These attributes belong only to God our creator. So to say Santa has these attributes is to say that Santa is God. Is this correct?

There is one God, our Creator, and he will not share His glory with another.

Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: “I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God.”

Isaiah 44:6

I am the Lord, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to carved images. Isaiah 42:8

The world has no problem worshipping Santa as god (though I do not know why agnostics would partake in it). Yet, for the Christian there is a problem. Why? Because God says:

You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations

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of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain." Exodus 20:3–7

Why, as a confessing Christian, would we give worship and honor to a false god? Is it because we think it is cute to see our children believe that Santa gave them those presents? That we love to watch them open those presents, and then later when asked, “What did Santa give you?” we hear them reply, “Santa gave me this gift”? I have seen this in many Christian homes, where they will talk about the truth of Jesus’s birth but they will mix the story of Santa to the kids as a truth, not explain it as false. As Christians we should not be lying to our kids. God said to Israel in:

Jesus said, “You shall not bear false witness” Matthew 19:18

Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal truthfully are His delight. Proverbs 12:22

Why would we be exempt in this command by telling our children that Santa is a real person? Nothing breaks down the relationship between parent and child more than a child being deceived by their parents because they lack in understanding and

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because it is cute. I remember the day I found out as a child that Santa did not exist. It totally devastated my trust in my parents and was only one of the things that made me hate them more. When I heard this, my thought was, “How can I trust them if they lied to me? What else have my parents lied about?” Later in my teen years, I revolted against believing in God and became agnostic saying, “Why should I believe in God when I cannot see Him, as I did not see Santa and he was false?”

It is good to see people receiving. Yet to manipulate, deceive, and abuse the trust of a child is to harm him. You can say, “Well, I turned out okay.” This will not stand well before God at the Bema Seat of Judgment, where the saints receive their rewards based on good works for Jesus.

Making a god or idol out of Santa and lying to your children is taking your liberty too far. Doing this is abusing the grace of God. We should not give any credence to any part of Santa, his reindeer, or the snowman because they give thought and honor Santa. Yes, Frosty the Snowman has roots in Santa, for who picks Frosty up in his sleigh to keep him from melting in the end of the cartoon? Movies like Miracle on 34th Street, Santa Clause 1, 2, and 3, and any elf movie, or movie referring to Santa is wrong and should not be honored in the home. Pictures and songs representing such idolatry should not be in the home. Singing of Christmas trees also would be idolatry. John said:

“Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen” (1 John 5:21 kjv).

If we are afraid to tell our children the truth about Santa, then this would be disrespectful to God. God wants us to train our children in His ways. When walking with your children or heading to church, teach them the purpose for going to church, for the reason of worshipping and serving God. Teach your children

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why Jesus came into the world: to save us from our sin, to pay a penalty we could not, and His love to do such an act of sacri ce for a people rebellious to Him.

Ask the question, “How can I honor God and give more focus on Jesus, who He is, and how He fulfilled Scripture?” We do have videos, movies, articles, coloring books, and books teaching about the promise of Jesus Christ. I believe we need to make sure this is a day of emphasis on Christ, praise, glory, and honor to Him who sits on the throne. Possibly many Israelites could see Jesus as the Messiah fulfilling Deuteronomy 18:15, if Christians weren’t more enamored with Santa and his reindeer. Why not describe the meaning of the gifts given to Jesus at His birth, representing His deity, His kingship, the frankincense representing His priestly order and His sweet smelling sacrifice, and then the myrrh His purpose to come into the world to die, to become a servant even unto obedience, unto death for the welfare of the souls of man. Why aren’t these things taught? Because they are not cute, they are not entertaining, and they are not joyful and delightful to believe. We do not want to be told that we are sinners, that our penalty for sin is death. We want to think more highly of ourselves. To be reminded that Jesus came into the world to die is to be reminded that it was for our wickedness that Jesus went to the cross to die. What Jesus did for us should cause us to rejoice. I once was lost and now am found. Old things have passed away; behold things have become new. Yes, we remember His death and our sinfulness, but we rejoice in the redemption He has given us.

This holiday is to serve ourselves. It is selfish in origin, in giving and receiving, in showing ourselves off, even though we are generous to the poor. We look to justify this holiday in pointing out that people are receiving from us and that we are satisfied

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by doing such a task. The Scriptures do teach that it is better to give than receive, but without the proper motive of love it means nothing. If I celebrate Christmas and give because I want to see people blessed to satisfy myself, this is wrong. If I give because I want to see people blessed sincerely, without any selfish motive; that is good. But who can truly judge the heart? Only God can judge the heart. If we cannot ask God to reveal our true heart in giving and have Him tell us what we need to do then our heart is insincere. If we can hear what the Spirit says to us in giving and obey, then we are sincere. God is the only one who can handle glory well. If we are afraid to be different from the world or be in opposition to this holiday, then we have created an idol in our lives. Spending beyond what we can handle makes our motives wrong. If we fought for a toy for our child and had to have this item to please our spouse, and we had to fight, lie, and manipulate in order to get it, this would be selfish.

If we can’t handle that, a store or person can’t say, “Merry Christmas,” and think that we must do something to make stores or people have the freedom to say it, the motive is wrong. If we understand that man is not righteous and is not for God or truth, then we will understand that they do not want God or His ways. To get upset about the ACLU or the government not having a Christian symbol is foolish. The world is lost to the meaning of who Jesus Christ is and why He came to earth. How any one of us can condemn them or force them to do this is ridiculous. If they come and take our rights, then it is understandable to be upset, for our American laws permit freedom of speech, but to think that the world should be celebrating Christian things is foolish when they do not comprehend the love of God.

Trying to keep Jesus in the holiday is purely selfish. If we have to try to keep Jesus in the holiday to justify our desires of

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partaking in this holiday, our motive is not love. Either Jesus is the reason for the season or He is not. Can anyone discern the difference between us being Christian and those being pagan? Jesus said, “The world will know you are my disciples when you love one another and are obeying my commandments” (John 13:34–35). The Pharisees realized that these were people that had been with Jesus. Does the world recognize that we have been with Jesus? Do we celebrate this holiday purely out of motivation to honor and obey Jesus Christ? Can they recognize that we refuse to be like the rest of the world and that we thank God for the sending of Jesus Christ into the world to save us from our sin?

The challenge is not to be like the world. If we have liberty to celebrate Christmas; we should do it for the glory of God. Be separate from the world. Do not trample people; be patient, be meek, and be loving—be a witness for Jesus. Personally, I do not celebrate this holiday because it is very selfish. So when people ask me how I am preparing for Christmas, I tell them the truth, that I do not celebrate this holiday, and yet I tell them I do believe in the birth of Jesus Christ, and then I am able to expound on the reason for Jesus Christ coming. In this way I have chosen to be an example to the world not to partake in the folly of this holiday and am able to share the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation!

If we really want to give Jesus a Christmas present, then we need to repent, confess our sin, submit ourselves to His Word, resist the devil, destroy anything that gives glory to Santa, and throw it away; just as Moses destroyed the golden calf, breaking it into little pieces and throwing it into the river to be washed away. Then we should celebrate His grace and mercy, praising Him with joy and gladness, partaking in eating and drinking in

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fellowship with Him. Christmas does not need to be a day of repentance and fasting, but a celebration of life through Jesus Christ.

God is the creator of gifts; He gave man life, a spouse, children, and a place to dwell. There is nothing inherently evil of trees, wrappings, wreaths, or any material thing; even the making of a red suit. But it is about what is taught. The truth condemns a thing?

Easter

Easter, in the same way as Christmas, has all of its origin built in paganism or Babylonian religion; read Alexander Hislop’s book The Two Babylons. Just ask yourself the question, being a student of truth, what have Easter bunnies, eggs, and jelly beans got to do with the resurrection of Jesus Christ? There is no reference to these objects in the Passover, in the types of sacrifices, even in regard to the resurrection. Abraham did not use an egg, or a bunny, to worship, when his son Isaac (a type of Jesus resurrected from the dead) was given life again. Jesus did not say to use an egg, or one of these objects to use to remember His death and resurrection. When Jesus spoke about His death, He used the illustration of a seed dying and falling into the ground and only to break forth through the soil to bear more fruit (John 12:23–24). So what do these objects have to do with Jesus? Absolutely nothing! The bunnies, chicks, and eggs all represent the goddess of fertility. These are forms of celebration of the mother of gods, Semiramis or Astarte, or Easter, as we call it.

Just as the church compromised by giving in to the pagan Christmas religion to try to bring more people into the church,

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so they did with Easter. In the first century of the church until about three hundred a.d., the church celebrated the resurrection of Jesus at the time of Passover. This is the representative celebration of Old Testament prophecy which God told the people to apply the blood of the lamb upon the door post, and then the judgment would pass over them. This is representative to the believer’s life, the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God ( John 1:29) applied to the life of the one who has asked Jesus to wash away their life of sinfulness, so that judgment would pass over him without condemning him, so that he may live a life of holiness before the Lord.

Just as I wrote about objects in Christmas, there is nothing that makes us the better or the worse about rabbits, chicks, eggs, and jellybeans. The issue is: what is the reason for celebrating it? Does it represent our sanctified life before Jesus Christ? I believe it does the opposite. If we are partaking because it is cute and fun, without teaching our kids that the Easter bunny is not real and giving them a false hope, then we’re liars and thieves, for we have stolen the trust of our children.

For myself at the Easter season, I refuse to eat jellybeans, color eggs, or eat any chocolate bunnies and marshmallow chicks, so as not to give the idea that I worship and give honor to this pagan festival. There are no Easter baskets, no egg hunts, and no coloring eggs in my home at this season. It should not be “Happy Easter” but “Happy Resurrection day.” I am sure if we would think about it, as celebrating Passover in a Jewish home gives children the opportunity to partake in it, so also we can give projects, activities, and games that show, represent, and remind children of Jesus Christ who was resurrected to give us this hope that as He was risen, so shall we be.

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Now, concerning celebrating the resurrection at Easter time, I am all for celebrating the resurrection at the time of Passover because it gives witness to the Jews of how Jesus fulfilled prophesy by His death and resurrection in this festival. The Jews are not ignorant, they hear us say Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophesies, but we do not do the celebration at the right time. They can understand that we gather on Sundays because Christ Jesus rose from the dead on Sunday, so we celebrate a Sabbath rest on Sunday (for Jesus is our rest).

Now I would personally celebrate it twice, once at Passover as a witness to the Jews and at Easter to hear the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the hope that they may come to a saving knowledge of Him.

halloween

Most Christians know the origin of Halloween is built on witchcraft, sorcery, and sacrifices. They know that it is about haunting, causing fright, and either give me a treat, or I give you a trick. Again, you can read Alexander Hislop’s book The Two Babylons to get a better understanding of this origin.

I have no problem dressing children in good representing costumes to go “trick–or–treating.” They are not any better if they do or don’t partake. I believe that if we choose to honor God, sending our kids out with the gospel message to give to the homes they go to. Teach them the song, “Jesus loves you,” “Jesus loves the little children.” Give them tracts telling the gospel messages or teach them a skit that gives a message of the gospel. This will teach your children boldness in sharing Jesus Christ, in being a witness, even later to being a living witness for Jesus.

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Having pumpkin festivals at your church or celebrating a true “All Saints Day” celebration would be good. Have the children come as missionaries, martyrs, and apostles and give stories of their lives of service for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Doing any pumpkin carving or coming in any costume representing evil would not be Christ–like. Yet, as I said, your liberty gives us the ability to put on a costume, carve pumpkins, and eat candy. The issue is whether our actions are breeding selfishness and doing evil.

Paul said:

But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse. But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be embold- ened to eat those things offered to idols? And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble. 1 Corinthians 8:8–13

It is better to not celebrate this pagan holiday than to offend a brother. Plus, it is a good witness to the world that we are not motivated by its pagan celebrations. The issue is not keeping Christ in the world through holidays, but keeping Christ in your heart and celebrating the life of Christ daily. In celebrating

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holidays in respect of honoring Christ, do not allow anyone to condemn you. John said:

My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

1 John 3:18–24

There is no difference between those who celebrate Christmas and Easter and those who celebrate Halloween; all three are built on pagan beliefs. Any Christians that wants to say Halloween is worse than the others are very mistaken. Halloween may be blunt with its evil of witches, ghosts, and death, but Christmas and Easter are the subtle way of lulling a believer into practicing pagan rituals. So it is not the issue of the trees, presents, costumes, and receiving of candy; it is how will we celebrate these holidays the way God wants us to do it. We should not partake in evil, but to bring glory to Him. We should not look to justify them because we enjoy them or it is fun for the kids.

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If we want to give glory to God, maybe it is better not to partake in any of them, yet celebrate Christ’s death and resurrection as Jesus commanded us.

Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; “for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Likewise, He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.

Luke 22:17–20

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Evolution v. Creation

I remember in eighth grade science class reading in the textbook that the earth was six million years old. Now it is said the age of the earth is billions of years old. When I read this, I wondered how they knew it. I did not completely believe this, because many of the things that were said did not make sense.

I try to make sense of information and ask, “Is it reasonable?” Take for instance global warming. If science is saying the earth is warming, and the earth is millions of years old, then how can we determine whether the earth is in global warming? We have only been keeping record of weather and temperatures for the last hundred years. We use data that is only a fraction of a percentage of evolutionist’s belief of the age of the earth and yet evolutionists believe through the lack of complete information they can come up with this evaluation. Yet this may only be one cycle of the earth’s weather patterns.

Evolutionists are constantly changing what they have always said before. I heard just a few months ago that scientists have said Pluto is not a planet anymore in their definition. Evolutionists

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in rejection of God are constantly coming up with new thoughts when their theories do not jive with truth.

If we look at the fossil records, we cannot find any intermediary fossils of a part amoeba and part trilobite. You cannot find a part ape and part man. Neither can we find a part fish and a part amphibian fossilized in an intermediary stage.

Let’s look at the computer. A computer can only work if it has all the components needed to perform. A computer cannot work unless there is power. The computer has to have a running system. It has to have a mouse and a monitor, in order to work. If you are missing one of these items, the computer is worthless.

The same can be said of a tree, an animal, and a human. Let’s look at a human. A Homo sapien can only function if it has all the parts necessary to work. A human without a brain cannot function; neither can a human function without a heart. Ask yourself the question, “When in the evolutionary process did the human decide he needed a brain or a heart?” Ask another question, “When did the human decide he needed to learn to procreate?” What came first, the man or the woman? If the man, where did the woman come from to procreate, even if they formed sep- arately in different locations, what is the likelihood they would have found each other, and how would they have known they needed to procreate?

If man evolved, when did the human decide he needed two arms and two legs? With one arm you can still do things, and with one leg you can hop wherever you want to go. But when did the human body decide it needed another arm and leg? And if the body did decide, how long did the process take to make it happen and why, if the left arm came first, didn’t the right arm come curved in the same direction as the left arm? How did the body decide the right arm must be facing the left arm?

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We now, with technology, have searched into the DNA of a cell and have realized it is a cell created with compilations of information for which all information has to be there splitting, multiplying, and diversifying in order to create the human body. As the sperm and the egg come together in the womb, the process of creation starts. The baby’s cells start to reproduce and start to diversify until there is the form of a body in the womb. If the cell could only duplicate itself, the baby would be one blob of the same cells, just flesh; but in the DNA of a cell, in the splitting and multiplying, one cell changes from a blood cell, to a blood vessel cell, to a heart cell, to a brain cell. I could not tell you the process, but as a computer is running, you are clicking on different things to produce something. Even as I am pressing many different keys on my computer keyboard to write this chapter, I have to write this in an organized way for you to understand what I am writing. If I randomly push buttons, then all my words would be blobs of letters without distinction of understanding or readability. So it is with the human body. The body is being created in the womb and each part is forming to be what it is supposed to be. In a few weeks, you can see its shape as a baby and not a toy car. What a wonder with technology today we can know what sex the unborn child is. This is all by the unique design of the cell to place information from this part to another part so the body can determine it is a human girl and not a cat.

Enquiring minds want to know why procreation only works with their own species. A dog and a cat cannot mate and make a dat or cog. Only dogs can procreate with dogs and cats only with cats.

We ask the question, “What came first, the chicken or the egg?” Man with all his logic cannot understand the chicken has

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to come first, for the egg cannot hatch unless the hen sits on the egg to hatch it and then to take care of the chick until the chick can fend for itself. If the egg came first, then the egg would not hatch, and even if it did hatch, the chick could not survive for long alive. Plus, we still have to ask the question of living creatures, “How could there be any procreation unless the male was created with the female?”

The Bible gives us the answer. When God created the ani- mals, He created them male and female in their kinds. He created the animals mature and with the understanding to procreate. Adam named each creature God created and we still do this today. Name one animal who has named man as Homo sapiens or another creature. An ape has not named the tiger “tiger,” or banana “banana.” An ape only sees the potential threat of a tiger, and only sees the banana as food for his consummation.

I am thankful to know that God can do all things; there is nothing impossible with God. Man is the one who would believe God created the universe in millions of years, or used evolution to create the earth and all the things on it, yet God says He created it in six days. I know my Creator God enough to know He didn’t need any length of time to create all He did in six days; with the snap of His finger, or just a word, He could do all this without a problem. Do we think God would lie to man if it took Him more than six days, wouldn’t He have told us?

It is foolish of man to believe that the universe and all creation just happened because of a big bang. We can place all the necessary components needed to make a watch in the desert, but no non–living organism can make it come together to become a watch. It is also known that no non–organism can become a living organism. How irrational to believe trees, water, animals, and humans all came to be because of some explosion.

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In order to sustain life on the earth, there have to be plants taking in carbon dioxide, which we exhale, and for plants to put out oxygen, which we inhale. All the components of animals, plants, water, and air have to be in place on the earth, with the right variation of temperatures and wind in order for life to exist on earth. Remove air and all things cease to exist.

Our planet and all creatures were designed with the purpose of life. David wrote:

“I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well” (Psalm 139:14 nkjv).

David says we know it and so does the book of Romans declare we know it. Evolution leaves us as a creature with no purpose other than to please self and die; yet God created us for good, He created us for a relationship with Him. There is a void in every soul that can only be filled by God. We search for many things to satisfy it other than God and we find those things vain. Ask the suicidal person what he is missing in life and you find he is missing purpose and love. God is no fairytale; He is real and a person who takes interest in His creation, just as we take interest in all the things we create. David wrote in the same Psalm:

My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fash- ioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. How precious also are your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they

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would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You. Psalms 139:15–18

We are on a higher plane of creation with power over other animals to make them pets and place them in zoos for our observation; but in what forest or jungle have you found a zoo of humans being observed by other creatures for money?

We create cars, computers, and make technological discoveries; just as God created us, because we were created in His image with the ability to create, to discern from good and evil, and to give proper judgment accordingly. Name one creature that has conquered land, air, and sea and made automotives and vehicles for them to ride in and travel faster than any land animal. Which bird can fly around the world in several hours, even penetrate into space? Only man has come up with a vehicle for underwater use that can stay under water for several days. Name a fish that has conquered the land problem and has come up with a contraption for staying on land for several days before returning to the sea?

Just as we excel over all creatures of this world, so it is foolish to believe there is nothing excelling over us. We have just scratched the surface of understanding the universe and creation. We lack in so much understanding that we are still only babes. God excels over all understanding of all things. Why? Because He created it all: even you. God knows you more than you do; even knowing the number of hairs on your head yesterday and how many fell off during the night.

Paul wrote his epistles to the saints in Christ to gain in the knowledge of God:

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that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power. Ephesians 1:17–19

Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:4

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What a Christian can get away with doing

When Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane:

Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” John 17:1–5

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These words reflect his heart’s desire to serve God, love God, and to glorify God. Jesus’s whole life was in obedience to God the Father. Philippians two says Jesus humbled Himself, giving up His power of deity to be a servant to God, even to serve by His death on the cross. Jesus spoke in John 4 that His meat was to do the will of His Father. In John 5:36 Jesus said, “The very works that I do bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.”

When Jesus had already lived thirty years, He, by the will of God, chose to become baptized in fulfillment of righteousness. When He arose out of the water, the Holy Spirit of God descended upon Him like a dove and the voice of God the Father was heard speaking, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). Remember the words Jesus said as a youth to Joseph and Mary when they sought for Him. Jesus said, “Why did you seek me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49)

When Jesus was praying in the garden, He said, “Glorify me that you may be glorified” (John 17:1). Jesus spoke the parable about the servants who gained in their endeavors to prosper their master. The one who had five talents gained five more and the one who had two talents gained two more. The Master’s reply to them was, “Well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord.” These servants were glorified by the response of their Master and the Master was glorified by the service and honor of the servants. Yet, one did not think his Master was so good. He hid his talent in fear of not gaining anything, and brought the talent back without interest. The Master said, “You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming,

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I would have received back my own with interest. Therefore, take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25).

Jesus’s last words on the cross were, “It is finished.” Jesus’s whole life was about being about His Father’s business. Isn’t Jesus the example of a servant for us all? When you look at any of the holy people of God, they were always servants to God. Some had more success of faithfulness like Moses and Samuel, while some had failures and yet stayed in the faith and service of God, like Abraham and David.

As much as I would like to have been a Moses who was faithful in all God’s house, I know I have been more like a Samson with his failure to have stayed away from sin. Yet, I became like a David who confessed his sin and repented. It is good to be able to say with Paul, “Follow me as I follow Christ.”

It is good to be able to say with Paul:

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection

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from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:7–14

Paul did not let his past failures or successes hinder his life with Christ. He wanted to know Christ and His power through the resurrection to endure suffering and wanted to press on toward the goal to which God had called Him heavenward in Christ Jesus. The question I ask, “Is this our heart’s desire?” David had a heart after God and it continued all his days. Is it continuing all our days?

I see so many Christians involving themselves with things God hates. They do not pay attention to the things God abhors and rejects. I see Christians involving themselves in witchcraft, sorcery, and horoscopes. I see them involve themselves in wicked music and entertainment. Christians are fornicating or getting involved with unbelieving people making partnerships and relationships.

Many Christians are asking questions, “Can I do this and do that?” but are not asking, “What does God’s Word say and what will glorify God?” Many Christians come to the Word of God looking for a way to justify their actions in place of finding the most excellent way. Here is one thought; Jesus said the only justifiable reason for divorce is adultery. He did not say they should divorce, but it was understandable if it were to lead to

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divorce. Jesus also said that divorce is the result of hardness of heart. This can be one spouse who hardened his or her heart to commit adultery and wants to stay in adultery. It can also be the offended spouse whose spouse committed adultery and the offended spouse does not want anything to do with him or her. It is understandable for the offended spouse to become hard and want the divorce, but if he or she wants God’s way, the most excellent way, he or she would resist hardening their heart and loving their spouse till death do them part. This doesn’t mean divorce won’t happen, but if it does, the offended spouse will continue their part of the covenant until the former spouse remarries. We need to choose the more excellent way of love. God loved Israel, yet they committed adultery against Him. God still kept his covenant, though he had full right under the law to divorce Israel. Hardness of heart will keep a person from the most excellent way. If the offending spouse did come back in repentance, the hardened heart will reject in place of forgiving. The most excellent way is forgiving.

The most excellent thing about doing God’s way is delighting yourself in His ways. When you choose God’s ways, your heart will be transformed to God’s heart and you will find your heart’s desires are answered because your heart is as the heart of God (Psalm 37).

“Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established” (Proverbs 16:3 nkjv).

Learn to apply Scripture to whatever you are doing to glorify God and you will find He has answered your prayers and your ways are not selfish and lustful as spoken in James 4. I like to apply Philippians 4:8 to my life. This is an easy verse also for children to remember and apply.

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Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is any- thing praiseworthy––meditate on these things. Philippians 4:8

Some people use the slogan “WWJD” or “What would Jesus do?” This is always a good question. Jesus is our example so what can we learn of Him.

Recently in the news, there was a Christian school that has a rule about dancing. Now I do not believe dancing is wrong, but a lot of the dancing today is sensual and enticing. One man of the senior class wanted to go to the prom with a girl from another school and dance. Now it is not evil to go to the prom with a girl, but the whole issue in the news was about the school’s rules about dancing. If they are the schools rules then they must be kept, until they are changed, but as most people focused upon the senior’s liberty today, they neglect to understand that this boy signed a contract about going to dances. The school may be extreme on their rules, but this senior chose to break the covenant he made with the school. What would Jesus do? If Jesus was the school administrator, he would keep the rule and give the just punishment. If Jesus was the boy, what would He do? Jesus would have kept His covenant and not gone to the dance. Whenever you read of God’s people making covenants in the Scriptures; God held his people to their covenants. Examples are Joshua and the Gibeonites, Joshua 9, and 2 Samuel 21. Jesus said not to make covenants, but said, “Let your yes be yes and your no be no” (Matthew 5:37).

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Jesus said to His disciples in John 4, “My meat is to do the will of my Father.” David wrote in Psalm 40:8, “I delight to do your will O’ God, and your law is within my heart.” Our whole purpose in life is to delight in God’s ways.

We need to remember that God makes the rules and knows what is best. We need to be careful not to justify our actions based on what we think is best for us; or justify our actions by saying, “God would never want me to be unhappy.”

God knows what is best for us. He knows and sees all things, even the future. He has His perfect will, which is far better if we would be patient, yet He will allow us to pursue our will to find that it did not bring us happiness. God wants us to learn that He is our sufficiency, not the material things of this world. The material things of this world are only for a moment, eternity with God is forever; why not know eternity in our hearts today?

As God commanded Adam and Eve to tend to God’s garden, so God has commanded us to tend to the responsibilities of the garden God has lent to us. This is to build our relationship with Him, to love our family, to be responsible in our employment, and in all which we place our hands to.

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the

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people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:42–47

When the church simply lived to the purposes of God, growing in their relationship with God, learning to love one another, living in gratitude of thanks and praising God, the people grew in favor with all people and God was bringing in the people to salvation. Let us live to give glory to God and let Him do the work.

Would that all God’s children could say with Paul:

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing. 2 Timothy 4:7–8

Paul went through many trials and tribulations for the glory of God. He worked his own business as well as studied the Scriptures and taught and evangelized many people. Many people were affected by the work of God; yet, Paul always knew it was Christ in him, the hope of glory. He knew, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” (1 Corinthians 15:10).

Would we all, with the same purpose, live by God’s grace within us?

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Eternal Security

What is eternal security? Eternal security is the promise of God, for when believers believe (commit, trust) in the promise of Jesus Christ as their Savior for their sin, they shall have the promise of eternal life. Eternal life is living forever with Christ, and not having to live the eternal woes of punishment in the lake of fire. Having eternal security is coming to know God, and knowing God shall keep them and protect them. The believers shall know they have an ever–present help in time of trouble, and know nothing can separate them from the love of God.

“Once saved, always saved,” is not totally correct. Using this slogan can be misunderstood to affirm that a person can give his life to Christ, and continue in sin. This is contrary to the Scriptures. Read Romans chapter six. Another question asked is, “Can I lose my salvation?” These two ideas are not sound in Biblical teaching. A gift from God is not something you can lose; it is only something you can forfeit. Salvation is not a coin you can lose out of your pocket. Let me explain.

Eternal security is true in the sense of keeping ourselves in the love of God. It means to abide in His grace and love. This means, if we choose to walk away or forfeit our salvation, we

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will not continue to keep it. What do I mean? Is it possible for a person to taste of God’s favor and grace and reject it? Is it possible to receive a gift and give it back? Yes, it is possible. When I am asked, “Can a person lose their salvation?” I say, “Absolutely not!” Why, God cannot make a promise with a person and not keep it. Once He makes a covenant with a person, we can be sure God will not change His mind. It is man who changes his mind. Israel, though saying they would follow the Lord, chose to rebel against God and went after the imaginations of their own hearts. This led God to chasten His people to try to bring them back into covenant relationship with them. As the prophecies of Jeremiah were coming to pass, the people rejected God’s warning, and God then deported them. God, in Hosea, speaks about Israel’s adultery, how God had the right to divorce Israel because they rejected him. God’s intentions are never divorce, and even if He in His love for Israel He gives the divorce, He still longs for reconciliation.

When God in His gracious love and with His mighty power, plagued all of Egypt, while protecting Israel in the land of Goshen, and then God used Moses to deliver them out of the hand of Pharaoh, this showed His goodness and favor toward these people. They had seen what God had done for them. In the wilderness, no matter how ungrateful Israel was, God provided them water from a bitter stream, and water out of the rock. He provided them bread from heaven, manna of which they never had too little, or too much. When Israel complained about God’s provision in the wilderness, God still provided them quail. Israel never had to deal with the heat of the desert by day or the cold of the desert by night, because God had a pillar of cloud over them by day, and a pillar of fire over them by night. These people surely had seen, and tasted the goodness of the Lord, and there

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was no excuse for their unbelief. Yet that is exactly what they did. They heard from God, they saw His wonders, but Israel was a hardhearted people; they were selfish rather than trusting. This is why the generation Moses led out of Egypt never entered into the Promised Land. They were as most people, they believed in God, but did not believe God with their heart. James said, “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! (James 2)” They did not tremble before God, they had no fear of God, and desire to stay in His graces. Read what the writer of Hebrews wrote:

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become par- takers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they cruficify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. Hebrews 6:4–6

This text is written to the believer so he does not continue laying down the foundation of repentance and baptism but is an encouragement to them to further their relationship with Jesus Christ to better things, living in freedom, not continuing to live in sin. Then he is not saying, in context of the chapter, that if you reject salvation, you cannot come back; what he is saying is for the person who has tasted the grace of God and then rejects it, it would be very hard because he would deal with condemnation. When a person sins, there is this condemnation that comes because he failed and Satan loves to lie and steal our hope of God; when he falls away from Christ, he believes he has done

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the unpardonable sin and blasphemed God; Satan comes and lies to him so that he cannot go back to God. God, like I wrote, always looks for reconciliation. Yet we know that some who have received then rejected God’s grace shall not return. Paul wrote to Timothy about correcting those who have strayed.

And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will. 2 Timothy 2:24–26

Paul says peradventure that God grants them the ability to repent. He says it is possible that a person can go too far away from God and not able to repent. I see many people judge their lives; believing God is blessing them, they think they are in good standing with the Lord. Whether they are false teachers, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and others; God blesses with His mercies, for He gives rain to the just and the unjust. Yet these people are without the discipline of the Lord, so they are not children of God. It is the same with many Christians; they judge their walk with God by the blessings, in place of examining themselves determining whether they are in Christ (2 Corinthians 13:5). King Ahab of Israel saw many great things from God, but never changed his ways to come to the Lord. King Manasseh of Judah had a godly father, King Hezekiah, but Manasseh walked in the wickedness of his heart, so much to where God would not save his nation from destruction. God

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had the king of Assyria come and take Manasseh captive and place him in a Babylonian prison where Manasseh repented of his ways, and God restored him. Yet a person’s heart can become so hard that even God cannot change it, like Pharaoh’s. The Hebrew writer warns us of having an evil heart of unbelief.

Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. Hebrews 3:12

To Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven. Hebrews 12:24–25

Peter says:

For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit, and, a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.” 2 Peter 2:21–22

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People will become lovers of themselves and the cares of the world, the things they love about this world will choke them away from God. When Jesus spoke about the seed planted on different types of soil (see Matthew 13), He said the seed planted on stony ground grew up fast but died because it had no root; He said it died because the cares of this world choked it out. We tend to think this would be in a couple days, weeks, months, or a year or two, like the soon death of a plant that would die in a couple days; but there is no indication when the root has died. It could be after twenty years. Judas walked with Jesus for almost three years, saw all the miracles, and heard all the teachings and warnings; yet his love for the world drowned out his need for Jesus.

Samson is an example of a person who grew cold to God and rejected all the favor God had given him for the lust of the flesh. Samson, from birth, was a chosen vessel from God to deliver Israel out of the hands of the Philistines. Samson was never to eat or drink anything of grapes, he was never to touch dead things, and he was never to cut his hair. God gave great strength to Samson whenever he needed it. One day, while Samson was looking to take a bride of the Philistines, a lion came and attacked him. Samson killed the lion and went to make arrangements for his bride. When, in his travels back, he passed along the way where he killed the lion, he saw a bees hive inside the lion’s dead carcass with honey, so he partook of the honey and brought back some for his parents. Then, later on, he went to take his bride and would drink wine. Here Samson trivialized God’s commands for him, not to touch a dead thing or drink wine. Later, in love with the prostitute Delilah, he willingly gave her information about the source of his strength. He was so blind to her manipulation that he told her, and then she

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cut off his hair. The Philistines came upon him, and he thought he could go and defeat them as he had done before, but he found himself with no strength, because he did not realize that God’s Spirit had left him.

What a thought, to come to live your life so close to the fire, to where you do not realize that you had grieved and then quenched the Spirit of God out of your life (Ephesians 4:30 and 1 Thessalonians 5:19). How could it have been this way? Why, having known the power of God within, would anyone cast off all restraint from God to lose it in the end? The New Testament is full of these warnings not to harden your heart.

For if their being (Israel) cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into

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a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? Romans 11:15–24

Paul here affirms our salvation in Christ by describing a once wild olive branch but grafted into Christ. Israel rejected and they were cut off, and the gentiles were grafted on; but Paul warns those who would have a change of heart about the goodness of God, for they do not support the root. For when would they know when they were removed?

Paul wrote it (Ephesians 2:8–9), “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Is it possible to receive a gift and give it back? Many people will say, “Well, doesn’t the Scripture say, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ?” This is true, but where in that text does it say we cannot willfully choose to cast off God’s love and return back to the love of the world. This is one of the reasons the rich are warned about loving money, for it may choke them from entering into the kingdom of God. God’s love can never be choked away; it ever desires to be expressed. This is very evident in his pleas with Israel to return so that He could restore them. Paul, in Galatians says, if you are living for the flesh, you can be sure you are not going to enter into the Kingdom of God (Galatians 5). It is like making a contract between two parties; God being one of the parties, and man being the other. God puts the offer on the table, the man chooses to receive the gift, but later chooses to offer back the gift, because he loves the world, or just considers the cost too high for him to live for Jesus. He did not lose it; he gave it up, and God’s offer remains open until the day the man

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dies. Samson, after quenching God’s Spirit, saw the severity of God, repented, and believed the goodness of God and chose to walk in his heart with God. His hair began to grow again, and then in Samson’s last victory against the Philistines, he did not trust his hair growth, but trusted God and asked him for this last amount of strength, which God gave him.

There is no proof that a man may have an experience with God, then walk away, and then go into immorality. When the Holy Spirit is allowed to influence a person’s life, that person will come to his senses and not perform in the old ways. This person may become very moral. Yet, later in rejecting God, he no longer has a need for God and his Word; or a love for God or a need to love God, so he starts to trust in and believe in himself.

There was a preacher by the name of Charles Templeton who was known by Billy Graham. They were good friends and preached the gospel of Jesus Christ in stadiums. He helped Billy Graham start Youth for Christ International, hosted a religious program, and founded the Avenue Road Church of the Nazarene in Toronto. At some point in Charles’s life, he could not believe in God any longer and became agnostic. He willingly chose this. He could not reconcile the idea of evolution and the scriptural account of a six literal day creation. You cannot believe in both, you must choose, he said (see www.answersingenesis. com and www.templeton.com).

When God spoke to Ezekiel saying:

But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which

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he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die. Yet you say, The way of the Lord is not fair. Hear now, O house of Israel, is it not My way which is fair, and your ways which are not fair? When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity, and dies in it, it is because of the iniquity which he has done that he dies. Again, when a wicked man turns away from the wickedness which he committed, and does what is lawful and right, he preserves himself alive. “Because he considers and turns away from all the transgressions which he committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die.” Ezekiel 18:24–28

The righteousness the Christian knows is the righteousness that is imputed to him from Christ. The Christian chooses to walk in God’s council and continues in it. God says this person will gain life, but if he turns away from his righteousness, and does contrary to God’s way, the old shall not be remembered, and he will be under penalty of sin. God also says if a wicked man turns from his wickedness and becomes righteous by placing their trust in Christ and living to His council, and then he shall live; the old shall not be remembered. I would not want to be the one who chooses other than God’s way.

Paul in two verses speaks about a falling away or apostasy.

Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition.

2 Thessalonians 2:3

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Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.

1 Timothy 4:1

Both these verses speak about having come to the knowledge of the truth, but failed to continue in it. Both these words talk about defecting, or revolting (Strong’s Greek). In 2 Thessalonians, the Greek word for falling away is “apostasia.” It means defection from truth (properly, the state) “apostasy”: fall- ing away, forsaking. The 1 Timothy Greek word for depart is “aphistemi,” meaning to remove, i.e. (actively) instigate to revolt; usually (reflexively) to desist, desert, etc.: depart, draw (fall) away, refrain, withdraw self. These are both like a child raised in a home, from which he willingly chose to walk another way in rebellion. Paul is saying people will willingly fall away from the faith. They will choose to live another way, or another gospel. Paul warned anyone from preaching another gospel twice in a row, for whoever would, Paul said, “let them be accursed” (Galatians 1:8–9).

The Apostle John speaks about those who were with them but did not continue with them in 1 John 2.

Jesus, when speaking to the church of Sardis in Revelation 3, says:

He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. Revelation 3:5

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There are two theories concerning your name being blotted out of the Book of Life. One, you were written into the Book of Life when you were born, and at the end of your life, your faith in Christ determines whether it was blotted out. The second is that your name was written in the Book of Life at the time of placing your faith in Christ, then because you did not continue, or abide in Christ, and your name was blotted out. Either of the cases works just fine for me; just do not blot out my name. I am going to make sure my name is written, not because I have any worth to it, but because I want to live by the grace and favor of God.

There is no one on this planet who can determine what another person is going to do. Only God is all–knowing and able to know what a person is going to do. Job was a righteous man who feared God and walked uprightly. Circumstances beyond his control took away everything that he loved and owned. His wife tempted him to curse God and die, but he refused. He knew his God and would not hold God guilty of any ill, for God knows what he is doing, and it is for good. Now Job’s case does not happen with us all. Satan desired to sift Peter, but Jesus prayed for him to endure. Satan was able to get to Judas because he wasn’t rooted deep in Jesus Christ. It doesn’t matter how good your life is, the world can choke your faith away, and it doesn’t matter how bad it can get and you can choose to lose faith. Jesus asked, “Nevertheless when the Son of man comes, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8) I have seen many people not having faith anymore.

Being born–again is being born of the Spirit, this is where we have been given new life in the Spirit of God, so we may come to know the mind of God and his thoughts toward us (1 Corinthians 2; Psalm 139). I believe once a person has been born

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to the Spirit of God, he has been given the power to become a child of God (John 1:12). This is the process of the Holy Spirit sanctifying us and continually separating us unto God in godly living. Yet, this does not teach “once saved always saved,” nor does it teach that you may lose your salvation.

Being sealed by God is nothing any man can see but God alone: He knows who will continue with Him and who won’t (Ephesians). God knew before the birth of Esau and Jacob who would put his trust in Him. He knew which child was to live for the flesh and which child was to live by the Spirit. Jacob proved to be the one, for he did live for the flesh, but God wrestled it out of him. Oh, how we would wrestle with God, until the flesh was removed from our lives, where we would live free to the Spirit of God.

Do not get me wrong, I am not saying anyone struggling with sin or struggling with their faith is constantly receiving and rejecting, and cannot know if he is saved. Many Christians, because they have not rooted themselves in Christ, are still faltering in the storm of the world and sin; they are the ones con- stantly unsure of their salvation. The proof of salvation is in the heart. Have you found grace in the sight of the Lord; and are you continuing to believe and trust Him? Do you have a heart like David, who longed to have God’s heart? Are you a friend of God like Abraham, who also faltered when the trials came? God calls these people his servants, his friends. Peter, in denying Christ at the fire, did not lose his salvation; he just needed to know his heart was not secure in Christ. Peter was still relying on the flesh to make him righteous. God looks at the heart, not at the works. We are told, “We shall know a believer by their fruits. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. John in his first epistle wrote about those who

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did not continue with them. They were of them, but they left. John said you have continued because you have the anointing of the Holy Spirit and know the truth (1 John 2:17–19).

This is the issue; eternal security is about abiding in Christ. It is continuing in the faith. Yes, we fail, we falter, and we sin. But who will cleanse us from our sins? Who will give us robes of righteousness if we confess? (1 John 1:9). Sometimes we still have unbelief concerning some things in our life, but we do not have unbelief about the fact that Jesus came into the world to save us from our sin and give us new life. I know because of God’s Word and the more I walk with Him, I am more confident of my salvation, not because I am righteous, but His assurance in my heart that I am a child of God, because I love Him and His Commandments. David wrote in Psalm 119:71, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn your statutes. I know I am a child of God because He disciplines me” (Hebrews 12).

The Scriptures speak about abiding in Christ:

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will

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ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. John 15:1–9

Jesus even says the branch that does not bear fruit shall be removed. When Jesus says, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you,” He is speaking about our relationship with Him. Psalm 1 speaks of not living like the ungodly, but living for the love of God and meditating upon God’s Word. For the person who applies God’s Word shall be like a tree, which bears fruit in its seasons. Jeremiah 17 speaks about this tree, spreading its roots to the river (Jesus), and bearing fruit and keeping its leaves green in the heat and in the drought. The one who abides in Christ shall be able to endure whatever tribulation comes against him and still will bear fruit. When our life–giving flow comes from God, we can overcome any obstacles. This is why John wrote:

For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 1 John 5:3–5

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This is why Jesus exhorted the churches to overcome and, in concluding His message says:

“He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son” (Revelation 21:7 nkjv).

Paul said:

“Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12 nkjv).

The saint who lives soberly understands that he will be hated; he will be misunderstood; he will be mocked; and Satan looks for any way to get the believer distracted from his walk with Christ. He will ask for permission to do with the believer as he did with Job ( Job 1). Satan will look to sift him as he did Peter (Luke 22:31–32). Satan will look to cause the saint to become lazy and not about his responsibilities like he did with David (2 Samuel 11). He will cause pride to rise, like he did with David, yet David survived. He continued in the faith, he was faithful to defeat those Goliaths in his life (1 Chronicles 21).

The issue is not trying to figure out where the seed was planted in our life, on good soil, rocky soil, hard soil; but pressing into Christ and finding that we are in the good soil bearing fruit. It is about continuing in His Word, in doctrine, and in faith. Paul, over and over again, speaks about holding to doctrine:

For fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine. 1Timothy 1:10

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If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. 1Timothy 4:6

Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. 1Timothy 4:13

Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you. 1 Timothy 4:16

If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, [even] the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, 1 Timothy 6:3

But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance. 2 Timothy 3:10

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, (because) they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers. 2 Timothy 4:3

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In all things showing yourself (to be) a pattern of good works; in doctrine (showing) integrity, reverence, incorruptibility. Titus 2:7

Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. 2 John 1:9

Jesus, in Revelation, hates any other doctrine. Paul says to continue in the faith:

And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. Colossians 1:21–23

Paul affirms us to be rooted in Christ and to beware:

As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the

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tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. Colossians 2:6–10

A proper fear of the Lord shall keep us. Fear doesn’t mean to stay away from God, but rather a fear to remove ourselves from God, and if we do sin, we know His love for us can return.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7 nkjv).

We are exhorted again and again to continue, to press on toward the goal God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus.

I believe that anyone who truly loves God sincerely is eternally secure. I do not have a problem believing, “once saved always saved,” because the Scriptures do teach this. Being born- again is being born of the Spirit of God and those who are have become a child of God who will continue in Christ Jesus; but if anyone is not living according to godly council and to the doctrine of the gospel, his life is contrary to having eternal life. Those who live contrary to Jesus Christ and the Word of God may confess Jesus as Lord, but I do not believe this means they are eternally saved. They may have had an experience with God at one time but not being born-again.

I met a man who was in a verbal fight with his wife, at least I thought it was his wife. I went up to them because it was going too far and spoke about their need to speak in a civilized manner. I asked them if they were married, they said no and it was none of my business. I left saying, “God loves you,” and they went inside. The next day, I was talking to this man, and I was able to talk to him about Jesus. He said, “I’m a Christian too.” Yet I

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brought up the issue of fornication and he told me I should not judge him. I talked to him about walking with God and that we are to judge people according their fruit; but he had no desire to change his ways. A couple months later, he was arrested for theft. This certainly doesn’t sound like a Christian doing what is right before the Lord. He was doing what he thought was right in his own eyes.

I had these college girls next door to me, and they were always partying with drunkenness and fornication. One day, when they were drunk and unconscious, their guest stole their computers and other things. The girls woke me up late in the night, and I helped them by calling the police and such. The next day, I spoke to one of the girls about their living, and she replied, “I know the Bible, and my father is an elder in the church.” She continued to speak about how good a person she was and how generous she was. She could not confess her living was contrary to God’s best way for her.

I know people who confess they are Christians and read the Scriptures daily; but when confronted about man’s philosophies and blatant sins mentioned in Galatians 5:17–21 like witchcraft; they reject the council of the Word of God. They will recite known pastors and evangelical leaders who teach these things are not harmful. These people have rejected the doctrine of Scripture.

The Apostle John wrote to those beloved saints:

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see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. 1 John 3:1–3

The believer looks to purify himself in Christ, to abstain from anything that is going to hinder him from bearing fruit, and which is against sound doctrine. The believer seeks to overcome, to continue in the love of God, even unto death.

Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Jude 1:21

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Revelation 12:11

I recommend you read a good book from Paul Bunyan called, The Pilgrim’s Progress.

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Soulish

“Now what do you mean by soulish?” you ask. What I mean by “soulish” is we are replacing our spiritual relationship with God for things that feed our soul or emotions. This is when we rather enjoy the things we have from God than God’s presence Himself. We are more involved in making our lives rich and in entertaining ourselves, rather than living in the full riches of God’s grace. God has given us good things and this is well and good, but if we misuse those things and let them replace God in our lives, we are making them our completion. The Bible calls this idolatry. An idol is anything we place in more importance than God. God has done all things well; He created us to love one another, to encourage one another, and to take care of our responsibilities to our loved ones, our employers, and to our churches. Yet sometimes we become so involved with those things we forget the greater issue, which is our relationship with Him. Jesus said to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these other things would be added unto you. The issue as I see it is, we have been given all these things and they are good, but we have gone too far with them to entertain ourselves with so much that we have missed that Christ is no longer with us.

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Now I am not saying emotions are not from God; God created us with emotions, but what I am saying is that an emotion without the Spirit leading is not of God. I say this because many people have an emotional experience, and it doesn’t prove anything? Our emotions can be either led by the spirit or it can be led by the flesh. This is the question we need to ask. People have joy, they have hope, they have peace, and they have contentment, but what are all these things involved with? Are they spiritual or flesh? Many people enjoy their lives with a spouse, children, job, and home; and these are good things. Yet in these things, we see where people can become so involved in their responsibilities that they forget what it is all about.

A husband gets up in the morning, eats and goes to work, earns a living, and then returns home to do his chores and duties at home. He is so involved in bettering his family’s lives with all the physical things; of bringing in money to support them and the home, budgeting the finances, keeping the home so it does not become a wreck; that he forgets the need for intimacy with his family. He becomes a stranger to them, even to the point of divorce. It wasn’t that he was not thinking about his family, but he was forgetting what he was for in their lives, which was to be with them, not just get things done.

This is what I see in the church. I see we are so involved with other things in place of our relationship with God. Not that we all neglect our Bibles or forget to pray, but we do our duties in regard to these things, in place of richly enjoying God’s presence. We have become enamored more with the work of the things we are involved in that we thrive off of that in place of God.

Now all these things I am about to mention are good things; but if used improperly, they will distract us from our relationship with Christ. These are devotionals, Christian books, Christian

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music, and Christian movies. All these things if used properly can and will enrich our life with Christ. But if they are the motivator to move us emotionally to Christ and never bring us to a rich security in Christ, we will continue to seek the new devotional, books, music, and movies that will feed the void in our lives, in place of Jesus Christ. Ask the question, “Are you more interested in what these things can feed you or the Bible where God can speak to you?”

Devotionals and Christian books have their place. They can give us insight and understanding as to what the Scriptures say. Yet a devotional or book can be focused only on one part of the Scripture in place of the whole text of the Scripture. We can write about God’s glory in these books, but the greater understanding is in the full revelation of the Bible. God never had the printing press invented so we could fill our lives with man’s thoughts of the Scriptures, but what God says in the Scriptures. He wrote his Scriptures down in a book, for all people to read. The problem I see is that we have replaced what God has said in his Word with what another man has said. It is wonderful to know it was not a commentary or devotional that was published first with the Gutenberg press, but the Bible. Gutenberg and the reformers knew the importance of the Scriptures in people’s hands and not their comments.

A relationship cannot be one person; there must be a minimum of two people to have a relationship. In a relationship, you want to hear from the person you are involved with. If a man is married to his wife and her mother does all the conversation for her, does the man have a relationship with his wife? No, her mother is speaking for his wife. When someone is speaking for another, even though he can give you the same words, he may not say it with the same heart. This is what Israel did before God,

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they heard his voice, but because of misunderstanding God, they did not want to hear from God; so they asked Moses to mediate between them and God. Jesus is our mediator, as Moses was for God, but the difference is that Jesus is the full expression of God, so when He speaks, He speaks God’s heart.

Christian books and entertainment do not express the heart of God; they are a substitute for His Word expressed to us through the Scriptures. Scripture is where we shall find the heart of God. But I believe we have become bored with God. So we start to use devotionals, commentators, Christian music and movies to appeal to us rather than God’s Word. We start to mix the reading of Scriptures to sensationalize our minds with thunders, earthquakes, along with the use of music to move our emotions to make us believe we are meeting with God. Pastors are now using music to stir emotions to make pleas of giving or in making an altar call to salvation. Ministries and missions are using marketing schemes to raise money for the ministry, the poor, and to further the gospel in foreign countries. We have become rich in ways of manipulating people instead of bringing them to Jesus. This is where Jesus would say, “You have lost your first love.”

“To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lamp- stands: I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; “and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore

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from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent. But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” Revelation 2:1–7

Jesus says that the Ephesian believers are doing most things right, but one thing they have forgotten is their relationship first with Him. We can have and do all sorts of good things, but if we neglect the greater issue, which is “Christ in us,” we are harming our relationship with Jesus. Paul warned us about grieving and quenching the Spirit of God (Ephesians 4:30; 1 Thessalonians 5:19). The church has become so much like the world in entertaining and in soliciting books that I believe we have placed ourselves into a cryogenic sleep, and have come to live in a fantasy world. We are now dull to the Holy Spirit, to the point where we do not have answers to our life in Christ. We do give an answer to our relationship in Christ, but about philosophy, about what the church teaches, or it is about the things we learned in movies and music. We start to base our lives upon experiences rather than knowing God through His Word. This has replaced the transforming work of Jesus Christ with self–work.

It is not that we are immoral, or are not doing good works, but we have become like the rest of the world, full of music, books, movies, and games so much there is no difference between the world and the Christian. The world does not perceive we have been with Jesus; they see that we have found a good product to

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soothe us. Let us look at these men who have been with Jesus. Here, Peter and John are in chains in front of Annas and Caiaphas the high priest:

And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, “By what power or by what name have you done this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: “If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, “let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. “This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, saying, “What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. “But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name.” And they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to

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listen to you more than to God, you judge. “For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them, because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done. For the man was over forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed. And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: “Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, “who by the mouth of Your servant David have said: “Why did the nations rage, And the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand, And the rulers were gathered together Against the Lord and against His Christ. For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. Acts 4:7–31

The leaders of Israel were surprised by the boldness of Peter and John, and knowing them to be uneducated; they knew they were Jesus’s disciples. Yet, when they wanted to threaten them to

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not say a word about Jesus, Peter and John had the boldness to speak saying, “Which is better, to obey you or God?” Peter and John were not ashamed of the testimony of Christ in their lives. Their testimony was what they saw and heard from Christ Jesus; it was not in the spectacle of the healings and miracles. When gathering with the Christians, they celebrated their life in Christ and wanted power to make them bold, to which God answered their prayer and filled them with the Holy Spirit (Acts 4).

We here in America seek to feed our soulish state. Our life is about the Christian entertainment in place of seeking God to fill us with the Holy Spirit and proclaiming praise and adoration to Him. The first century saints did not have to use music to help them praise. We lift up praise in the sanctuary of the church when the music plays. We read our Bibles during the message, or Scripture reading, but we never have that individual one–on–one conversation with Jesus and His Word alone. We no longer can sit before God and learn of Him as Moses learned of God when he entered into the tent of meeting and God came down in a pillar of cloud and spoke to him. We want to stay on the sidelines like the Israelites, who seeing this relationship with God, would only bow at the entrances of their tents to worship (Exodus 33). They never came to Moses and asked if they could have the same relationship. Moses hoped all God’s people were prophets and put His Spirit on them (Numbers 11).

Caleb and Joshua were the only two people who had their faith in God and not in Moses. Their faith was in God so when they saw the giants of Canaan, they looked not at their ability, but on God’s ability. These two men were the only ones who led their family into the Promised Land. Joash became king at the age of seven; he walked in the ways of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada. When Jehoiada died, Joash did not continue in the

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ways of the Lord, even though Jehoiada’s son Zechariah came to restore him to God. Joash never solidified his walk with God; his walk was only as strong as Jehoiada gave him council. The question I raise is, “When all the Christian drama and entertainment are gone, will we still be following Christ?”

This cryogenic sleep is not just with the congregation, but is with the leadership of the church. Pastors, teachers, and Christian educators have replaced their relationship with Jesus with a relationship with their flock and their students, to their public prayers, and Sunday messages. Pastors have such busy schedules that they have limited their intimate relationship with Jesus, their Bible, and their prayers to none or very little so they can meet the needs of the people in place of meeting the need of Jesus.

The church has become an entertainment industry; we have our big screens for the programs and the worship music with subtle nature scenes. We have our beautiful music playing to set the mood. Some churches turn down the lights to set the mood for being with God. Some churches have the hype in the worship service by revving up the congregation to the start of worship by placing a countdown on the big screen with big numbers. Wham, bam, thank you, Jesus! (I added this to show the folly.) Why would we need these props to excite us to worship Jesus? This is Satan’s subtle way to distract us from Jesus and to live for these theatrics. This is what Eve did, wanting more than Jesus; this is what Israel did in the wilderness, in building a golden calf. This is what Jeroboam did to keep the northern kingdom of Israel from going to Jerusalem to worship. He placed two golden calves in the land for the people to come and worship (1 Kings 12). This is what Peter warned us about:

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Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 1 Peter 5:8–10

Peter says, be sober, be vigilant, watch out for Satan’s tactics to distract you. Jesus is our eternal glory. Jude said:

For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Jude 1:4

Lewdness means filthy lust or wantonness; it can be the subtle way of moving a person to lust for something. These lewd things are not evil, but are distractions from our goal in Christ. It is like the TV host with all the hype and sensationalism to cause us to believe we are in need of this product to better our life. This doesn’t mean that the product doesn’t perform what they say, but what it does is bring us to want more and more, so when the newer product comes out we will be tempted to purchase that also. It is like the way Christian ministries deceive us into giving to their ministry by offering a book, to those who give a gift of twenty dollars or more. It doesn’t mean that the book is unprofitable, or that giving to the ministry is wrong, but

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they use a marketing technique to motivate us to give. So this is really a sale in place of a gift, and we have received our reward for giving. I do not believe these ministries are ungodly, but they most certainly may be sincerely deceived in thinking that this way of salesmanship is good. If they wanted to be genuine, and to give a gift, they would have asked for donations to the ministry and determined in advance that if people gave twenty dollars or more they would receive the book.

See the craft we use to motivate people in place of love? Love doesn’t need the subtle music, it doesn’t need the lights turned down and it doesn’t need a promotional thing to help people give. Love does without any selfishness. Love purely sees the situation and gives out of the generosity of the heart.

We have become a Christian society that is more concerned about politics and social programs than in the message of Jesus Christ. I hear it in prayers, I hear on Christian programs, where we are more concerned with keeping America moral. Josiah brought reformation to Israel by ridding the nation of idolatry and restoring the temple, but God said it was all in pretense (Jeremiah 3). The only hope for America is prayer, fasting, and the preaching of Jesus Christ. Most of us know this, but we are more involved with writing letters to our government officials. We are more involved with petitions; we are more involved in getting people to vote. We have our twenty–four hour prayer vigils for the next President of the United States, but we no longer have our prayer meetings for the saints to stay strong in the faith and the gospel to be advanced, or for souls to be saved by the power of Jesus Christ.

What happened to what is right? “To obey man or to obey God?” I hear the sob stories of chaplains in the armed forces who can no longer pray in Jesus’s name, so they give up their

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freedoms and their obedience to Christ so they will be able to keep their jobs and not be thrown into the brig. How pathetic we have become?

We have become the religious sect that existed during Jesus’s time. They were giving their tithes, they were saying all the right things, but they were not doing in love of God (Matthew 23). We have our sabbaticals, our retreats, our fellowship, and our meetings, but not our action with our faith. We are continuing to try to make new marketing ploys to convince people to come to church rather than preaching what Christ commanded us (Matthew 28) and building the people up in doctrine, prayer and fellowship (Acts 2).

Seems to me that Peter, John, and Paul were all content in not having all the fancy things; they just wanted to have the Scriptures to gain more knowledge of Christ. They sought to prove Jesus to the whole world as the Messiah. We in America are involved in preaching that Jesus will reach the emotional part of our life, but not the spirit that needs to come alive.

What would the church do without sound systems, air–conditioning, and a beautiful sanctuary? The church had none of these things in the beginning; in other nations, Christians have to meet in huts, in sewer pipes, and remote areas, so they can study God’s Word. People travel miles walking or riding bikes, even leaving many hours beforehand so they can arrive at the service to hear God’s Word.

Here is a devotional reading from A.W. Tozer from the The Alliance Web site, which was posted on Friday December 19, 2008, from an article “We Have an Appointed Way” chapter number thirty–three, “Religion of the Intellectual Versus Religion of the Spirit.”

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Knowing God

“One of the heaviest problems the inquiring Christian faces today is why so many good and apparently sincere religious leaders are going so far astray from the plain teachings and practices of the New Testament. Destructive elements are being innocently introduced into present–day worship and service by Bible loving evangelicals, elements so opposed to true genius of Christianity that two are mutually exclusive. One or the other most go. Either these new parasitic growths must be destroyed, or they will in a short time destroy the Christian faith. Yet these deadly things are encouraged in the churches by some of the most zealous orthodox leaders. Why?

The answer is simpler than we might suppose. These leaders are depending on their brain to guide them in their religious practices. They conceive the truth to be a doctrinal deposit, a kind of a theological road map to lead them to heaven. They check the map to make sure they are going the right direction, and after that they are on their own. No Unseen Guide is necessary. If they should be attacked by doubts, they need only stop under the lamppost and reassure themselves that they have indeed “accepted” Christ. Then they get underway again with complete confidence that they are on the same road as the apostles and prophets.

“Do we need to turn down the sound systems, deemphasize the tempo, reduce the chatter and just be quiet before the Lord? Are our church services in danger of becoming soulish than spiritual?”

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I believe Tozer has told us we need to stick to the simple way of Christ. We need to know God; we need to spend time in His presence alone. We need our relationship and our works built on the foundation of Him, not our own idea of Christianity. Paul spoke about not building on any other foundation other than Christ.

According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 1 Corinthians 3:10–16

We need to shore up our foundation with Christ Jesus. If we are lost in the fantasy world of Christian morality, bettering ourselves, and entertainment, we are like the fool who built his house on the sand, for when the floods came and the wind came, they took down the house. What will solidify our house, our temple in which Jesus resides? It is by taking heed to His Word, placing His Word in our hearts, obeying His commands, and

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keeping ourselves in the love of God looking for the day of Jesus Christ to redeem us.

As once a Sunday school administrator, I have had many teens serving in toddler, nursery, and children’s church classes, but later, when they were out in the world, they became lost and did not continue a relationship with God. I am not saying they should not have served, but they need to be warned and taught to be in personal relationship with Jesus and in church services. They need to have their faith exercised, and they need to grow in the knowledge of serving. Jesus gave Judas the opportunity to serve, though his heart was far from a relationship with Jesus. Judas hung out, taught, healed, and did all types of service with Jesus, but in the end, the world was his god.

It had been a long time since I had seen a certain elder. When I knew him years ago, he was watching for the soon return of the Lord, but one day when seeing him, I was discussing with him the soon return of the Lord, and his reply to me was, “Jesus cannot come back because the gospel has not reached everyone yet.” This is the state of the church that is more involved in the work of the gospel than in loving and watching for Jesus’ appearing: both must be done. If Israel wasn’t watching for Jesus’s first coming, what is to say we are the better prepared for Jesus’s second coming? When Jesus was teaching about prayer and not losing heart, He said:

“Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8b nkjv)
Look at what Jude writes in his epistle:

But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ:

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how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, Jude 1:17–20 nkjv

Notice that Jude warns us that sensual people will come in and cause divisions, not having the Spirit. These are the ones who play on the senses of the people rather than the truth. The church convicts by emotional means rather than allowing the Spirit of God to convict of sin, righteousness and judgment. Jude says to build yourselves up on the faith and praying in the Holy Spirit. We must continue in doctrine and in communion with the Spirit of God.

If the churches represented in Revelation two and three speak of the then, the present, and future, and can be used in chronological order, which I do believe, then this would be the Laodicean age.

“And to the angel of the church of the Laodicean’s write, These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked, I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed,

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that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Revelation 3:14–22

Jesus speaks the truth to them; He does not water it down. He tells them that all the things they are rooted in are pretense and not from the heart. The Laodiceans had it all together; they were the excitement of the times. They thought for sure they were in the perfect will of God. They were bringing in the people, they were doing many great works, and doing all kinds of things to better society, but they were what? They were lukewarm; they did not realize that they were wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Jesus saw their problem and wanted to make it right. How is it made right? First, they need to receive Jesus as their true wealth. Jesus was the one who made it through the fire to redeem man. Second, they need him to clothe their shame: it was the sacrifice that clothed Adam and Eve in the garden. What did Adam and Eve try to cover themselves with? Fig leaves; nasty prickly leaves that are uncomfortable. Jesus opened the Laodicean’s eyes; Jesus healed one born blind. “Behold I stand at the door ... ” was the plea for this church to come to repentance; they went too far in their practices of church. They,

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like Aaron’s two sons, Nadab and Abihu, went too far and provoked God to anger and He destroyed them (Leviticus 10).

As I wrote about an elder I knew, it was improper doctrine, which distracted him from watching for Jesus. Kingdom Now Theology is removing the idea of Jesus’s eminent return and teaching that Jesus will return when the church has changed the world. The antichrists will do this by a one world govern- ment and religion, in which those calling themselves Christians, Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists will all belong to one faith (all compromise and little truth). We see this through the ecumenical movement. Some Protestants believe Catholics are genuinely saved. Likewise, some Christians do not believe that we need to evangelize Jews. Some believe we are all saved saying, “All roads lead to God.” There is a diversity of belief, but no biblical foundation. Jesus spoke to the disciples on His night of prayer in the garden of Gethsemane saying:

Then He came to the disciples and found them asleep, and said to Peter, “What? Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:40–41

Later, you find Peter was warming his hands at the fire where Jesus’s trial was, but when asked if he was a disciple of Jesus, he denied it three times. Then Peter looked at Jesus and Jesus looked back and Peter remembered his words that he promised he would not deny Christ, but he failed. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus who walk not to the flesh, but to the Spirit (Romans 8:1).

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Jesus restored Peter and commanded him to feed His sheep. We must learn to watch out for those subtle things that would distract us from our relationship with Christ.

“The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day” (Isaiah 2:11 nkjv).

Is this our heart? Are we more satisfied with the music and Christian things than Jesus? We shall be humbled and God shall be exalted. Where is our heart, and how will we be tested? Some people have lost everything and were imprisoned; left only with the memories of what they had learned in their Bibles. The Holy Spirit was there with them to guide them into praise and adoration of their Savior. We in America may never be tested in such things again, but when the music stops, can we find peace with God in the stillness of the night, in the silence of emptiness, with nothing but us and Jesus where we are totally content with him.

Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Psalms 46:10–11

When Elijah was fleeing for his life and fled to the Mount of God; Elijah didn’t find the Lord in the wind, the earthquake, or in the fire. It was in the quietness that Elijah found the presence of God, where God spoke to him with His still small voice, and wherein Elijah was comforted and secured in his relationship with God (1 Kings 19). He could do no other thing for God

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until he had the peace and comfort of knowing his relationship secure in Jesus.

Paul, Peter, John, and others are our example to follow; they walked pleasing, in obedience, lived in the spirit, and were not afraid to warn of false teachers and prophets, false doctrine, false living, and false spirituality. We see that they prayed, they taught, they were diligent in their faith to grow in the love of Christ. We see that they did not live for the fanciness or the glamour that they could have had. They lived in the light of God’s love to wit- ness for Jesus Christ, keeping the faith unto the end, even their deaths in martyrdom.

Paul said:

Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences. For we do not commend ourselves again to you, but give you opportunity to boast on our behalf, that you may have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if

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anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:9–21

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Conclusion

This book was written to be a springboard for the searching person concerning proving what the Word of God teaches. This book is only a tool in helping you understand that it is better to trust God and listen to His voice speaking to you through the Word than it is to trust the man in the pulpit. This book does not claim that all pastors are incorrect, or that all who are teaching such wrong teachings are going to hell. The reason for this book is to help us to stay on the path of Christ to follow His Word, to correct, to exhort, and to encourage the pastors, laymen, or any persons searching for truth or for the correct way to prove the scriptures; so that they may not fall into traps of misusing scriptures.

As God commanded Israel to teach their children all the wonderful things He had done for them. God wants to be your tutor. He wants to lead you into all truth by the Holy Spirit. Look at the wonderful things God wants to speak to you:

But as it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has

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revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:9–16 nkjv

Why take the joy away from the Holy Spirit working in your life, to substitute Him for a man in the pulpit. As I wrote earlier, pastors and teachers are guides to help you know God’s truth; they need to teach you how to search the scriptures and test all things through the counsel of God’s Word. They can give you knowledge, but they cannot make you know. There is a big difference between having knowledge and knowing God’s love. Learn to take in all the scriptures and not leave some of them out. We will not have all the answers; the issue is knowing what we have learned from God. Be not ashamed if you make mistakes or are corrected, we all do this, but God will correct our errors if we do not become frustrated and give up. Find a good church whose desire is the complete understanding of the Scriptures.

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God says to find a congregation in which you can have fellowship. The pastors and teachers are there to help perfect you into the ways of the Lord (Ephesians 4:11–15).

When I first gave myself to the Lord, for a year I could not find a church that wanted to teach the Scriptures. During that time, I remember watching and believing what was taught on a cult program on television. I was starting to become rooted in legalism, for that was what they taught, but the Holy Spirit was showing me through the Scriptures that they were in error. They also taught other things that were bizarre and contradictory of the Bible; though they used the scriptures to back them up. It was the Holy Spirit, through the scriptures, correcting me to question and to search the truth.

The point I am coming to is this: let the Word of Christ dwell in your heart (Colossians 3:16), and meditate on it day and night like Joshua. Learn to apply Psalm 1 to your life; it is a very good text to apply to your life in Christ.

I have discussed many ideas within Christianity to which people fall prey. I cannot write them all down in this book. Prove all things by the Scriptures; there are many so–called Christian thoughts out there, but some are destructive and cause you to focus on self in place of Christ. Be careful, just because something has a Christian label does not mean it is sound in doctrine. Check these ideas out; are they scripturally sound? Possibility or positive thinking, infant baptism, purgatory, visualization, Yoga, and contemplative prayer are among many.

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The Priest would say to the children of God:

“The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The Lordlift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace. So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.” Numbers 6:24–27 nkjv

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summary of books to read:

What the Bible Teaches by R.A. Torrey Know What you Believe by Paul Little Know Why you Believe by Paul Little Evidence that Demands a Verdict; volume 1 and 2,

by Josh McDowell
The Case for Faith by Lee Strobel

The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel Inductive Bible Study by Dan Finrock The Pilgrim’s Progress by Paul Bunyan Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis

If you would like to contact John Marcus, you can e-mail him at his Web site: