Now for those of us who
believe that salvation is a matter of faith and grace from God, it placed that
program outside our area of interest.
For no one who believes in salvation through knowledge can be taken
seriously as far as the Gospel of Jesus Christ is concerned.
“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” (Eph. 2:8-9).
Gaining salvation through knowledge
would shift the focus from God to the individual, and from grace to works. The
more knowledgeable one would become, the more merit he would acquire, and the
surer he would be of salvation. Thus, the wise of this world, the wealthy, the
high fliers, the inheritors of titles and positions, would be in a good
position to ensure for themselves a nice place in the
Luke 24:19 And He said to them, "What things?"
So they said to Him, "The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a
Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the
chief
Luke 24:20
priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified
Him.
So, when it came to the most
important decision of their life, the wise of this world, the rulers, the
Pharisees, the priests, failed abysmally. They claimed that they knew the law,
yet they killed the Prince of life contrary to the law. Even those who believed in Him refused to
confess Him before the people, lest they should be put out of the synagogue:
“for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God”. If you think that this was a problem
peculiar to the Pharisees of Jesus’ time, you do not know what has been
happening in the world ever since. How
many wise, how many academics, how many rulers, confess Jesus Christ before the
people today? We know of none. That is, we know of none who confess the Christ
of the Gospels, for there are some who confess a christ
which is foreign to the Scriptures.
If an academic were to
confess Jesus Christ in one of their forums today, and said that he believed in
God and in His word, the Bible, he would be ostracized from their midst and
never asked to speak before them again.
He would most likely loose his job too, for universities have no room
for those who confess God in their midst.
Tertiary institutions –
universities, colleges, seminars, institutes of higher studies – are supposed
to be the repositories knowledge in our time, yet they treat with derision and
contempt the very source that would grant them the wisdom of God, the one and
only wisdom worth striving for. Jesus
Christ, the disciples, the prophets, gained that wisdom by obeying God and by
meditating on His law. Such is the
nature of God’s law, that it imparts wisdom to those who mediate on it and seek
to understand it.
Psa 119:97 Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation
all the day.
Psa 119:98 You, through Your commandments, make me wiser
than my enemies; For they are
Psa 119:99 ever with me.
I have more understanding than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are
Psa 119:100 my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, Because
I keep Your precepts.
Psa 119:101 I have restrained my feet from every evil
way, That I may keep Your word.
Psa 119:102 I have not departed from Your judgments, For
You Yourself have taught me.
Yes, God personally teaches
those who keep His commandments and are receptive to His wisdom. He makes them wiser than their enemies, and
wiser than their teachers. The Pharisees
of Jesus time wondered how He acquired such wisdom and authority when He had
not been one of their pupils and never attended any of their rabbinical
colleges.
Mat
Mat
Mat
Instead of inquiring how
they too might acquire that kind of wisdom and authority, they were angry that
they had been bypassed in the process.
Later, they had a similar problem with the Apostles.
Now how did these
“uneducated and untrained men” gain such power and wisdom? They gained it
through the Holy Spirit. And why is no
one receiving this power and wisdom today? Because they don’t seek it the right
way, don’t believe in the Holy Spirit, and don’t meditate on God’s law anymore.
Jesus Christ said: "I
must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming
when no one can work” (John 9:4). This
is that night. This is the darkest spiritual hour in all of human history. Yet
judging by the number of religious books and programs that are available today,
one could easily think that we live in the greatest spiritual age ever. A spiritual age it is indeed, but by the
wrong spirit.
Seven
years ago we wrote:
“Human beings have
an uncanny ability to discuss things when they get to a crisis point, then
leave the problems to others to resolve.
This time, however, the problems will not be resolved by others. The world is no longer facing temporary local
problems, but intractable worldwide problems.
It is no longer a question of survival, but one of salvation. But science cannot save; only God can.
Human beings,
however, have decided that there is no room for God in their
deliberations. Even when the world is
crumbling around them, when it is becoming obvious that life itself is in
danger of extinction, they will not turn to the only source that can save
them. They seek immortality through
"scientific" methods such as cryogenics (deep-freezing of the corpse
in the hope that one day scientists will discover the secret of immortality,
cure their diseased bodies and revive them to eternal life), and perpetual
replacement of body parts with robotic devises or genetically cloned body
parts. That is the kind of immortality
science offers humanity.
That educated
people can come up with such absurdities is a witness to the bankruptcy of our
educational system. That is the effect
of compartmentalizing our tertiary studies in rigid disciplines without any
relation to each other. It should be
obligatory for all university students to study humanity subjects. As it is, we get medical graduates without
ethics, lawyers without morals, and scientists with distorted visions of the
future. They need to study not just any
humanity subjects, but the good old fashion classics, philosophy, and
religion.
During my
University studies, the head of the Religious Studies Department once said that
"time was when in philosophical studies people talked about God and the
meaning of life, about ethics and values, but no more." These days they
have a "Theory" that if people understand what they study, it is not
worth studying. Searching for truth,
God, and a moral purpose in life does not go well with evolutionary
thinking. In the struggle for survival
there is no room for compassion, altruistic feelings and transcendental
goals. Hedonistic materialism and the
pursuit of mindless pleasures are the things that count in our
"enlightened" society. That is
why humanity finds itself on the brink of catastrophe.” (The Christian
Herald No 3, p. 4)
Have things changed since
then? Surprisingly, the one institution
that we thought would be immune to such suggestions, given its history and
pedigree, the
Three years ago, my wife of
fourteen years said that she could no longer cope with the demands of this work
and wanted a divorce. The Jewish side of
her family, who never quite came to terms with the fact that I was preaching
Christ, prevailed over her in the end.
So I was asked to go to court one day to settle the question of our
property. But about a month earlier, I
received a court subpoena from her solicitors, demanding all documents,
receipts, and writings, associated with this work, from the very beginning up
to that time. I did not understand why
they needed everything, instead of just the documents pertaining to our
finances, but I had no choice, I had to comply with their request for you
cannot disobey a court order. So I
handed over to her solicitors five boxes of documents.
I always assumed that the
courts would settle the question of property on the basis of each one’s
contribution, benefits from marriage, and future earnings potential. I had
never been in a court before, and I did not know that in the adversarial
system, which operates in this country, and much of the English speaking world,
justice is not the main aim of the game, but determining winners and losers.
Once you begin a case, lawyers take over, and you become a pawn in their hands. The problem is, their aims seem to be
completely different from yours. They
have no notion of fairness or respect for the other person’s dignity. Their
only concern is to win at all costs.
That’s how they get a reputation for themselves.
I went to court alone,
believing that the judge would be able to deliver a fair verdict based of the
facts before him. Instead, he ignored much of what I said, and paid much
attention to what my wife’s high powered legal team said. For my wife, who herself was a lawyer,
brought along another solicitor and a barrister. Obviously she knew something about the
justice system which I didn’t. For two
whole days they grilled me on just about everything they could think of. They wanted to know what were my beliefs,
what I wanted to achieve, what was the purpose of this work, why I wrote what I
wrote, and dozens of similar questions.
When they finally got to our finances, they could not believe that in
seven years our donations amounted to less than a hundred dollars.
I tried to explain to them
that everything we did was for free, that we never requested contributions from
anyone, that we followed the Apostles of Jesus Christ who preached the Gospel
for free, that this work was in fact prophesied to be done by poor people (people
“clothed in sackcloth”, as the Scriptures put it), but the more I tried to
explain these things to them the more incredulous they became. They could not believe that after sending
out thousands of letters and magazines over many years we received so little in
reply. They concluded that I was not telling the truth and that I must have had
secret bank accounts. And so they sent
out subpoena to the local banks asking them to provide details of all accounts
in my name and the name of this Foundation. When the results came in, and they found
nothing, they concluded that I was mad. That suited them well, for then they
could claim that I squandered money on a work of no value, and therefore my
wife was entitled to much of what was left.
The judge’s verdict was so
outrageously skewed in her favor, it became obvious that the intent had little
to do with equity and justice, and everything to do with bringing this work to
an end.
About a year earlier, I was
pensioned off from my work as Teacher/Librarian after injuries received in a
car accident six years earlier caught up with me and I was no longer able to
stand up for hours in front of students.
With the money received as
compensation from that accident, I immediately paid off the mortgage on our
house. Yet my wife, who was due to
inherit a property worth in excess of a million dollars, whose salary was ten
times the size of my pension, who could have purchased a bigger and better
house in less than three years, was given the lion share of our house too. During our marriage, I supported her while
she obtained three university degrees. Yet none of that had any bearing on the
judge’s final verdict.
That decision forced me out
of
Like Pilate, at the time of
Jesus Christ, he knew that he was delivering an unjust verdict, but did not
have the moral strength to stand up to his peers and say: “look, this is not
right, what we are doing here is wrong, this is not justice but a mockery of
it, so let’s do things right.” Instead,
he looked at me and said: “I am sorry to do this to you, Mr. Sbarcea”. He understood how crooked and painful his
decision would be, yet he still went ahead with it. I then replied to him, “You are doing it to
yourself, Sir”.
It took me two whole years
before I recovered sufficiently to produce another edition of The Christian
Herald.
But my case is not unique.
About the same time, another famous case was doing the rounds in the
media. A woman had won a property
settlement against her husband for the value of $500,000. Then she received a bill from her solicitor
for the amount of $480,000. She took him
to court and asked him to prove how he acquired such a bill. He couldn’t. He
told the judge that he kept the expenses all in his mind. You guessed it, he won the case, and she had
to pay additional legal costs.
Hardly a week passes by
without the media highlighting more cases of gross miscarriage of justice. It
is as if the judges have declared war on society and on decent citizens. A huge front page headline titled, ROUGH
JUSTICE, told the case of a shop owner who apprehended a thief and held him
bound until the police arrived. He was a
repeated victim of this thief and his gang, yet the court charged the shop
owner with assault and let the thief go free (The Daily Telegraph,
Astonishingly, although
everybody seems to know the truth about the justice system, no one can do
anything about it. A cartoon in a mass
circulation newspaper, has a man lying on a bed in a doctor’s surgery. The
doctor assesses him and says: “High IQ, no ethics, chronic liar. . . have you
considered law?” (The Sun-Herald, July 20, 1997). Another cartoon has two women talking in a
waiting room. A sign above them says,
“How to recognize a psychopath in your workplace”. One of them pointing furtively to a man behind
them says: “Apparently he’s a corporate lawyer in his spare time” (SMH,
Given such appalling
reputation, you might think that universities would have a hard time filling
quotas in their law faculties, when in fact the opposite is true. Law schools are bursting at the seems, while
education, humanities, and others, must lower their entrance marks in order to
reach their numbers.
This profession is good at
making money, but not so good at delivering justice. They are rich in the wisdom
of the world, but extremely poor in the wisdom of God. When I looked into the Scriptures, I was
really surprised at what I found there about this profession. God knew what would become of these people
from the very beginning. Here are some
examples.
Isa 59:4 No one calls for justice, Nor does any plead
for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies; They conceive evil and
Isa 59:5 bring forth iniquity. They hatch vipers' eggs and weave the spider's
web; He who eats of their eggs dies, And from that which is crushed a viper
breaks out.
1 Cor 6:1 Dare any of
you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not
before
1 Cor 6:2 the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge
the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge
the smallest matters? Do you not know
that we shall judge angels?
1 Cor 6:3 How much
more, things that pertain to this life?
James 2:1 My brethren, do not hold the faith of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with
James 2:2 partiality.
For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in
fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one
James 2:3 wearing the fine clothes and say to him,
"You sit here in a good place," and say to the poor man, "You
stand there," or, "Sit here at my footstool," have you not shown
partiality
James 2:4 among yourselves, and become judges with evil
thoughts?
James 2:5 Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not
chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom
which He promised to those who love Him?
James 2:6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not
the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts?
James 2:7 Do they not blaspheme that noble name by
which you are called?
James 2:8 If you really fulfill the royal law according
to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you
James 2:9 do well; but if you show partiality, you
commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
But in the end,
righteousness, truth and justice will prevail over the whole earth.
Zep 3:5 The LORD is righteous in her midst, He will do
no unrighteousness. Every morning He brings His justice to light; He never
fails, But the unjust knows no shame.
Isa 60:17 "Instead of bronze I will bring gold,
Instead of iron I will bring silver, Instead of wood, bronze, And instead of
stones, iron. I will also make your officers peace, And your magistrates
righteousness.
Isa 61:8 "For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate
robbery for burnt offering; I will direct their work in truth, And will make
with them an everlasting covenant. For
as the earth brings forth its bud,
Isa 61:11 As the garden causes the things that are sown
in it to spring forth, So the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to
spring forth before all the nations.
If you have a concordance,
look under such terms as, justice, judges, rulers, priests, and the like, and
see what you can find, for there is a lot more in the Bible about them. This is what Jesus Christ thought about
lawyers too.
Luke 18:2 "There was in a certain city a judge who
did not fear God nor regard man.
Luke 18:3 "Now there was a widow in that city; and
she came to him, saying, 'Get justice for me from my
Luke 18:4 adversary.’ "And he would not for a
while; but afterward he said within himself, 'Though I do not
Luke 18:5 fear God nor regard man, yet because this
widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary
me.” Then the Lord said, “Hear what the
unjust judge said.
Luke 18:6 “And shall God not avenge His own elect who
cry out day and night to Him,
Luke 18:7 though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.
Luke 18:8 Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes,
will He really find faith on the earth?"
Jesus Christ knew that
judges had no “fear of God, nor regard for man”. That is why He warned them:
"with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure
you use, it will be measured back to you” (Mat 7:2).
Our current affair programs
have reported several times that many of our country towns are in the grip of
an unprecedented crime wave mostly by roving youth gangs of Aboriginal
descent. They terrorize the population,
steal, break into houses in full daylight, even bash people in their own homes,
yet when they are apprehended and brought before the courts many are let free
because the level of proof required by the courts is almost impossible to
achieve. No one is more frustrated at
this state of affairs than the police, who often put their life at risk to
arrest these lawbreakers only to see the courts let them go free. Too many are in custody, we are told, and so
the judges find all sorts of excuses for not incarcerating any more. They fear more bad publicity from that
meddling institution called the United Nations.
“The Immigration
Minister, Mr. Ruddock, forced to defend
Our Government would do well to come out of that
institution altogether, and stop wasting money on it for its days are
numbered. Remember what they did six
years ago? This is what we wrote
then.
“The slide into the precipice has been accelerated by the recent
decision of the United Nations to become the moral and spiritual policeman of
the world. Not in upholding God's law,
but Satan's rule.
The case of the Tasmanian
homosexual who took his case to the United Nations is well known. The UN Human
Rights Committee demanded that the Tasmanian Government overturn its anti-gay
provisions from its Criminal Code because they violated "basic human
rights".
"'I am amazed that a UN human rights committee would consider it a
basic human right that people should be able to commit sodomy,' said the
Tasmanian Attorney-General, Mr Ron Cornish.
[But] a
Of course! All that is needed is for the ground to be broken in one
country and the floods of hell are opened everywhere. People may well remember that the first
public demonstrations by the "gay liberation movement" took place in
The day the UN Human Rights Committee decided for homosexuality, the
Australian public broadcasting network - the ABC - presented a lengthy panel
discussion on the plight of the transvestite people ("transgenders",
as they like to be called). They were complaining that the UN decision does
nothing for them. Being free to do whatever they want in private is not enough.
They want to be able to go out in public, tell people about their gender
preferences, and be loved for it. But
when they do that, they say that they usually get bashed, and they wonder why?
Now, they want the United Nations to do something for them too. And, nice and obliging as those at the UN
are, they will no doubt find a way to uphold the transgenders'
"basic rights" too. (The Christian Herald No 4, p.2).
No institution that takes as
its role the imposition of Satan’s rule upon the world, can expect to survive
very long. God has not recorded the
example of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Bible for nothing.
Now they take issue with
mandatory sentencing laws. Such laws
operate in many countries of the world – the United States, Wales and
Scotland, being only some of them – yet the United Nations has singled out
Australia. Why? Because
certain radical elements from the Aboriginal community don’t like it. They can no longer get away with a slap on
the wrist for repeated crimes, but are locked up behind bars as they
should. These laws are not directed
against Aboriginal people, but against all lawbreakers. Interestingly enough, these laws are popular
even in Aboriginal communities, who more often than not, suffer more at the
hands of unruly people than the while people.
But these laws are not popular with United Nations. Why? Well, would Satan like to see people living
safely, peacefully and in harmony with each other? He does his work through his servants, and
anyone who thinks that homosexuality is good for people, and protects
lawbreakers against the community of decent citizens, is his servant. It may surprise people to know this, butt the
mandatory sentencing laws – “three strikes and you are out” – are in fact based
on Christian principles.
Mat 18:15 "Moreover
if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him
alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.
Mat 18:16 "But if he
will not hear, take with you one or two more, that 'by the mouth of two or
three witnesses every word may be established.’
“And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church.
Mat 18:17 But if he
refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax
collector.
In Islamic countries where the Sharia
law is enforced they do not have “three strikes and you are out”, but one
strike and you are out. Even to the
point of losing one’s head. But has the UN railed against that? No! Instead it has taken Australia to task, a
Christian country with a great democratic tradition. As one might have expected, anything
Christian is anathema to this organization.
By forcing homosexuality on the world, and taking the side of
lawbreakers, the UN has revealed its true colors and the master it serves. A
leading Aboriginal figure understood the true causes of his people’s problems,
and delivered an astonishing lecture recently.
But would the UN leaders take note of this? We doubt it.
“Aboriginal
leader Mr Noel Pearson has lashed out at much
“progressive” thinking on Aboriginal issues, saying it is destructive and
compounding misery. He attacked treating
substance abuse as a symptom of disadvantage, and said high levels of
Aboriginal incarceration require the restoration of social order and law
enforcement rather than just legal aid. Mr Pearson said the indigenous experience of the welfare
state has been “disastrous”. “A rule of
thumb in relation to most of the programs and policies that pose as progressive
thinking in indigenous affairs is that if we did the opposite we would have the
chance of making progress,” he said.
Delivering the
“Light of the Hill” Ben Chifley Lecture in Bathurst
at the weekend, Mr Pearson said people who wanted to
be progressive today “are in objective fact regressive in their thinking. This is especially and painfully obvious if
you know the situation in the Aboriginal communities of this country.” “Petrol sniffing is in some places now so
endemic that crying infants are silenced with petrol drenched rags on their
faces. In one of our communities in Cape
York, among the less than 1,000 people there were three murders within one
month a few months ago. And we don’t know what to do.
“Progressive”
thinking about substance abuse, such as alcoholism, held it was “only a symptom
of underlying social and psychological problems”. “But addiction is a condition
in its own right, not a symptom. It must therefore be addressed as a problem in
itself.” The “symptom theory” absolved
people from their responsibility to deal with addiction. “Worse, it leaves communities to think that
nothing can be done to confront substance abuse because of its purported
causes: dispossession, racism, trauma and poverty, are beyond reach of social
resolution at present.” The
“progressive” response to the level of Aboriginal jailings
had been to provide legal aid. “This
progressive response – providing legal aid support services – has not worked .
. . In fact Aboriginal legal aid is part
of the criminal justice industry . . .
It is like a sausage machine, and human lives are processed through it
with no real belief that the statistics will ever be overcome. The truth is . . . the real need is for the restoration of social
order and the enforcement of law.” On
welfare, he advocated its reform, not its abolition. A new consensus was needed about welfare
built on the principles of personal and family empowerment and investment and
the use of resources to achieve change.
Our motivation to reform welfare must be based on the principle that
dependency and passivity are a scourge and must be avoided at all costs.
Dependency and passivity kills people and is surest road to social decline.
Australians do not have an inalienable right to dependency; they have an
inalienable right to a fair place in the real economy”(SMH,
Aug.16, 2000).
This lecture is almost like the sermon of a good
Christian. His forthrightness and courage
in delivering such a speech in the current environment can only be
applauded. Mr. Pearson understood that
the current situation in which justice is being administered with regard to “underlying social and psychological
problems” does not lead to harmonious relationships between Aborigines and
white people. Decent and honest citizens, whites and Aborigines alike, have
little incentive to obey the law when they see that lawbreakers go free and
justice is being delivered with partiality. Communities suffer when criminals
go unpunished. As Mr. Pearson noticed,
the justice system is now part of the problem rather than offering solutions to
it. Yes, the justice system and the United
Nations are now two good bedfellows. Few
people realize that the current social problems in Australia and around the
world are a reflection of the prophecies spoken by Jesus Christ for our
time.
Mat 24:12 "And because lawlessness will abound,
the love of many will grow cold.
Mat 24:13 "But he who endures to the end shall be
saved.
Yes, because lawlessness
abounds most people have become insensitive to what is happening around
them. But that is something Christians
cannot afford to indulge in. They cannot despair, cannot allow their love to
grow cold, and cannot lose faith in God’s ultimate judgment. We must endure to the end if we want to be
saved. For God does take note of what is
happening in the world at present, as He has always done.
Mal 4:2 But to you who fear My name the Sun of
Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; And you shall go out and
grow fat like stall-fed calves. You
shall trample the wicked,
Mal 4:3 for they shall be ashes under the soles of
your feet on the day that I do this," says the LORD of hosts.”
At the end of my court case,
I went before the Almighty, as I often do, in supplication and worship, asking
Him whether I should appeal to the High Court, believing that I had a good case
of getting a better result there. But
the Almighty answered that I should get back to the Scriptures and not even
think of going before their courts again. So I went back to the Scriptures and,
as usual, I received yet more revelations. The day they sent me their court
subpoena, was exactly seven years since I mailed out the first edition of The
Christian Herald to the world (that
is, three and a half years by two). The
prophecies of Daniel 12, follow those of Revelation 11, and that is why the
prophecies of Matthew 24 did not quite follow the pattern we expected.
If you do not know which
prophecies we are talking about, or how to look at them, wait for our next
edition when we will write about them in detail. What is important to know now is that the
world has been granted a few more years in which it could mend its ways and
draw closer to God or be plunged into the greatest tribulation ever. It cannot
afford to waste this opportunity for there will be no other chance.
Humanity has simply not
learned the lessons of the past. Two of the most important lessons recorded in
the Bible for posterity were in relation to the abominable practice of
homosexuality. The case of Sodom and Gomorrah is well known to the world, but
what is not so well known is the case of the Israelite tribe of Benjamin. It is
a fairly long story, but very instructive for the time in which we live.
The Benjamites
did not know that that disaster was upon them, and the whole tribe was
punished, both men and beasts, because they would not give over to be punished
those who engaged in that unspeakable practice. There is no compromise with God
against this sin. It has to be eradicated from the face of the earth, or the
whole world will face the consequences.
The United Nations, the upholder and enforcer of this sin, is heading
humanity towards catastrophe.
Earlier this year, Australians
wake up to read with incredulity the following headline in one of their major
newspapers:
“It’s okay to be
gay, judge tells boys”.
“Homosexuals deserve acceptance, are no better or worse than any other
people, and it is “totally unrealistic” to expect them to remain celibate,
Justice Michael Kirby said yesterday.
The High Court
judge – who has “outed” himself as a homosexual – was
addressing students as St Ignatius College, Riverview, the prestigious Catholic
private school” (Sydney Morning Herald, February 25,
2000).
Two months later, this High Court judge wrote in the
same newspaper:
“Let us here
resolve together, those who are psychiatrists and psychologists, that the new
millennium will see an end to the giggling. And to the alienation of, and
patronizing indifference to, “those people”. Instead, what is needed is the
adoption of a proper scientific, analytic approach to the issue of human
sexuality. . .” When any of us,
psychologists, psychiatrists or lawyers, confront the ugly face of homophobia,
it is surely our duty in the new millennium to reject it.” (SMH,
April 28, 2000).
It is his duty, the duty of
psychologists, psychiatrists, and lawyers, to confront “homophobia”, and reject
it. And what do they regard as “homophobia”? Anyone who speaks against this unspeakable
practice is “homophobic”. Since I have
continuously spoken against this sin, as against all sins, you can imagine what
would have happened if I ended up facing this High Court judge. That is why the
Almighty did not allow me to go any further with that appeal. He knew that it
would have been like jumping from the frying pan into the fire. I may well have
ended up behind psychiatric bars, for how else do lawyers and psychiatrists
deal with the people who refuse to reconstruct themselves according to their
wish? The question is, would the medical
profession respond to the call of this judge to confront what he calls the
“ugly face of homophobia”?
Two years ago, the president
of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Kerryn
Phelps, went to New York in order to get “married” to her lesbian partner. In Australia we now have a homosexual High
Court judge, a lesbian president of the Australian Medical Association,
homosexual Members of Parliament, church leaders who call for homosexuals to be
ordained to the priesthood and, of course, the largest homosexual festival in
the world – the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
It is not a mere coincidence that the Almighty raised this work in this
land? He wanted us to be close to the
action, to see with our own eyes the morass into which humanity has fallen, and
to cry aloud the sins of these people. Living in this country has become a
great vexation of the spirit for us.
Last year, this High Court
judge, “outed“ himself after
keeping his homosexuality secret for 30 years.
“Top judge
reveals gay life” “High Court judge
Michael Kirby has outed himself by providing details
of a 30-year homosexual relationship to society bible Who’s Who In Australia. Juastice Kirby, 60, has listed retirement newsagent Johan
van Vloten as his partner in the 1999 edition of
Who’s Who and revealed their relationship began in 1969. The statement shows their union predates by
15 years, changes to the NSW law decriminalizing homosexuality in NSW.” (The Sun-Herald, April 18, 1999).
He was appointed to the High
Court position on the premise of an unblemished record and lifestyle, yet, at
the time of his appointment, he was engaging in what was then a criminal
activity. And what did our leaders,
political and religious, do when they read about that? They congratulated him.
“While the judge
was congratulated for his courage – and even morals campaigner Fred Nile MLC said he was glad Kirby had come out – the collective
response was rather more of a yawn. All
hell would break loose if a Supreme Court judge in the US declared himself a
homosexual. In this country, no one even admitted to be surprised by anything
anymore.” (Elizabeth Wynhausen, The
Australian, April 26, 1999).
In America they don’t have
homosexual Supreme Court judges. What
they do have instead is homosexual “marriages”, and “Christians” who
demonstrate vociferously demanding the right to carry arms. It makes you wonder
what christ they serve, for
it is not our Christ. This is what Jesus
Christ told His followers:
Mat 26:51
And suddenly, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand
and drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.
Mat 26:52
But Jesus said to him, "Put your sword in its place, for all who
take the sword will perish by the sword.
Mat 5:39 "But I tell you not to resist an
evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him
also.
If you think that these problems
are peculiar to the English-speaking world, what do you make of this?
MUNICH: Two
lawyers have asked German family Minister Christine Bergmann to classify the
Bible among the books considered dangerous for children because of its violent
content. The Bible contains passages of “a gruesomeness difficult to exceed”, glorified as the will
of God, lawyers Christian Sailer and Gert-Joachim Hetzel told the
minister on behalf of parents.
“It preaches
genocide, racism, enmity towards Jews, gruesome executions for adulterers and
homosexuals, the murder of one’s own children and many other perversions,” they
said. The book should be banned for
children unless the “bloodthirsty and human rights-violating passages” were
removed.” (The Australian,
August 3, 2000).
The German lawyers want the
“human rights-violating passages” removed from the Bible. Now who determines what “rights” human beings
have, lawyers or their Creator? They
never speak of human duties or obligations, only of human rights, the very
opposite of what God has been telling us in the Bible. There are no inherent
rights for human beings, only obligations: the obligation to be decent, civil,
loving, charitable, helpful, respectful to parents, obedient to God, etc.
Jesus Christ, His Apostles
and the prophets never talked about human rights. Only Satan insisted that Adam
and Eve had the right to experiment and decide for themselves what is good and
what is evil, in order that they may be like God. Now the United Nations is peddling a similar
doctrine. Man has become his own god and
the measure of all things, and that is why humanity is on the brink of
catastrophe. Jesus Christ said:
Mat 22:37 " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your
heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'
Mat 22:38 "This is
the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39 "And the
second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'
Mat 22:40 "On these
two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."
If people observed these
golden rules there would be no need to talk about human rights, for everyone’s
“right” to a decent untroubled undisturbed life would be guaranteed.
The Almighty placed human
beings on this earth and allowed them to follow their own way for a while so
that they may learn that without obedience to His laws life becomes
unbearable. He promised a better and
more fulfilled life in a different world for those who love Him and obey His
laws. You will not find a single place
in the Bible that says that human beings have the right to do one thing or
another. The word ‘rights’ is found only
once in the Bible. Here it is: "If he takes another wife, he shall not
diminish her food, her clothing, and her marriage rights” (Exo
21:10). Other than that, any claim that
human beings have inherent rights is not from God but from the Devil. The
concept of human rights goes hand in hand with free moral agency, both of which
are contrary to God’s principles.
The United Nations reveals
its own colors, and the master it serves, when it insists that homosexuality be
permitted in all countries of the world. The European Union too, takes pride in
enforcing this rule. One of the first conditions it placed on the countries of
Eastern Europe that sought its membership was that they legalize homosexuality. And to complete the trilogy, the European
Court of Human Rights decreed this: “The British Armed Forces were forced to
drop their ban on homosexuals last January after a ruling against Britain at
the European Court of Human Rights” (The Sun-Herald, September 3, 2000).
It is hard to believe that
these things are happening before our very eyes, that Satan has managed to
dominate the leading institutions of our time to such degree, but there they
are, enforcing his rule without giving a thought what consequences this may
have upon the world.
Jesus Christ foresaw these
things, and that is why He spoke of a Great Tribulation that would bring this
world to a crushing end, and usher in a wonderful new world. But only for those
who have not known the depths of Satan.
Many leaders are angry with
me for suggesting that they have no place in the Kingdom of God, but isn’t this
what the Scriptures say? “He who overcomes. . . shall rule the nations with a rod of
iron”. Not those who acquiesce in
enforcing Satan’s rule upon their own people, but those who stand up to him,
who refuse to bend their knees to this pagan god and have anything to do with
him.
One day before the High
Court judge addressed the students of that elite Catholic school, telling them
that it is all right to be gay, the Catholic and Anglican Archbishops of Sydney
released the following common statement.
“Sydney’s Anglican and Catholic archbishops
have joined together to attack the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Grass. It is believed to be the first time the
leaders of the two biggest Christian churches have spoken out against the Mardi
Gras. After
saying very little during the event’s 22-year history, they have advised the
people of Sydney to avoid the March 4 parade, saying it is little more than a
highly erotic and gross way of promoting a homosexual lifestyle.”
“Both church
leaders had been mainly silent on the Mardi Gras over
the years . . . The Archbishop of the
Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, Cardinal Edward Clancy, has spoken out against
Mardi Gras in the Catholic Weekly newspaper that will be circulated in churches
on Sunday. He says the churches teach that homosexual practices are contrary to
the moral law. Homosexual people are required
to exercise self-discipline and to avoid such conduct . . .The Anglican
Archbishop of Sydney, the Most Rev Harry Goodhew, has
issued a statement indicating his support and agreement with Cardinal Clancy’s
statement. It is being mailed to Anglican rectors in Sydney today and will be
published in the church’s Southern Cross newspaper next month” (SMH, February 24, 2000).
When we began our work a
decade ago, people found it hard to believe that we did it because we saw a
void which was not being filled by the custodians of our moral and spiritual
standards. Well, here is the proof of it. It took 22 years for the Catholic and
Anglican Church leaders to speak against the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
We are an awfully small
organization by comparison, but we made sure that our voice was heard in every
corner of the world, and continues to be heard.
We are weak and small in the world, but we are strong in the Lord, and
if the Lord be for us, who can be against us?
It is to be noticed that Cardinal Clancy and Archbishop Goodhew did not speak against homosexuality as such, but
against the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras for being “a highly erotic and gross way
of promoting a homosexual lifestyle”. Presumably if it weren’t promoting a
homosexual life style in such an erotic and gross way, it would be all right.
They went on to say that “homosexual practices are contrary to the moral law.”
Pardon? Men of God speak of the moral law, instead of the law of God? In all of their statement, they never
mentioned God or His divine law against homosexuality. Moral laws are usually
devised by human beings They change with time and vary from society to society.
But God’s spiritual laws are universal and immutable. The moral laws of some primitive societies
involved cannibalism, bestiality, and prostitution. That was their moral law, they approved of
it, and they loved it. In New South Wales homosexuality is now legal. So which moral law were they talking about?
It is God’s spiritual law
that says homosexuality is evil and contrary to nature. You can’t break that
law for it breaks you instead. Don’t be
surprised to find that the Catholic and Anglican Church leaders are trying to
shift the ground towards a more flexible attitude towards homosexuality, even
though on the surface they appear to condemn it.
Now do you think that these
leaders knew that the very next day, a High Court judge would deliver that kind
of speech at a top Catholic school and countermand everything they said a day
earlier? For if they knew, their hypocrisy would stink to high heaven and
bypass even that of the Pharisees of Jesus’ day.
Having worked in education
for many years, I can tell you that schools do not invite guest speakers on an adhoc basis. Such visits interfere with the normal school
calendar, and require advance planning. Nor do they invite people unless they
have a pretty good idea of what their speech is going to be about.
It is inconceivable that the
headmaster of an elite Catholic school would embroil his school in that kind of
controversy without the knowledge and approval of his superior. Why then did Cardinal Clancy approve of such
a speech? If he was against homosexuality, why did he not wait another day
until the judge made his speech, then condemn that together with the Gay and
Lesbian Mardi Gras festival? That would have made more sense, wouldn’t it?
The point is, if he had
spoken a day later, it would have appeared that he was in opposition to the
High Court judge. He would not have
wanted to do that for we all know how many scandals the Catholic Church is
embroiled in on behalf of it’s errant homosexual priests. By speaking ahead of the judge, it served
several purposes. It barred any queries from parents who pay upwards of ten
thousand dollars per year to have their children educated in a school which
tells them that it is all tight to be gay; it answered the parishioners who may
have wondered why their leader had never spoken against this sin before; it
advanced the interest of the High Court judge who sanctioned homosexuality on
the hallowed grounds of a top Catholic school; and it sent a message to those
who might consider seeking compensation against the Catholic and Anglican
Churches for homosexual abuse at the hands of their priests. Who in their right mind would now go before
the High Court to seek redress against homosexual abuse, when a High Court
judge says that those who think that homosexuality is evil need psychiatric
treatment? This judge had attended an
Anglican, not a Catholic school in his youth, so any claim that he might have
revisited an old boys school does not apply. Clearly he was specifically
invited to this Catholic high school in order to advance the cause of
homosexuality, and to send the message to those who still think that this
practice is wrong and evil that a new rule applies now. Strange things are happening in this world
indeed!
We all know that the
Catholic Church is faced with a mountain of claims for compensation all over
the world from people who were abused as children while in its care, but what
about the Anglican Church, why are its leaders aligning themselves now with
their Catholic counterparts? Surely they could not be in a similar situation,
could they? Well, we don’t have the latest
developments within the Anglican Church of Australia, but it could not be all
that different from what is happening with its sister church in Canada.
“Abuse sinks
church. The Anglican Church in
Canada is braced for bankruptcy, submerged by claims for damages for the
alleged sexual abuse of native Canadians in its children’s homes amounting to
$C2 billion. Legal fees are rapidly
eating into its reserves and attempts to persuade the Government to bail it out
have so far been unsuccessful. The church’s 26 homes, some operating since
1820’s were closed in 1969.” (The Sun-Herald, June 4, 2000).
Can you see why these
churches are desperate to change people’s attitude toward homosexuality? It is their only salvation, otherwise they
would all go bankrupt. The largest
“Christian” churches are fighting for survival unless they ‘normalize’
homosexuality. The claims against them
are unlikely to subside even after the current spade of court cases are
settled, for they are reeking with homosexual priests. And if they are not now, they will soon. For while Archbishop Goodhew
was condemning the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, the new Primate of the
Anglican Church in Australia, was calling for homosexual ordination to the
priesthood.
“Gays and females
on primate’s ‘to do’ list” “The
Anglican Diocese of Sydney was moving towards female ordination but more slowly
than the rest of the church, the new Primate of Australia, the Most Rev Dr
Peter Carnley, said yesterday. He also said that he
would address the issue of the ordination of homosexuals. There has been criticism of his appointment
from conservative elements within the diocese.
Dr Carnley, who will be installed at St
Andrew’s Cathedral on Sunday, said of women’s ordination: “there are women deacons,
women are in positions they were not in 10 years ago. I think Sydney is
moving.”
He said the
church should strive towards organizational unity. Suggestions that Sydney diocese, which had
held out against female ordination, would split from the rest of the church
were not new. “But I think there is a
Gospel imperative to be one,” he said. “That is in
Dr Carnley said his views on theology had been “around for 20
years at least “. They had been expressed in his book, The Structure of
Resurrection Belief, published in 1987.
He believed in the Christian salvation, which was not a place, not a
state of happiness, but a relationship with God that is entered into through
Jesus Christ.” (SMH, April 28, 2000).
The bishop who ordained the
first women to the priesthood when he was head of the Anglican Church in
Western Australia, now wants to ordain homosexuals to the priesthood. He is in
a better position now, for he is Primate of the Anglican Church over all of
Australia. Now take another look at his
definition of salvation, for it is a classic example of what happens to people
who depart from the ways of God. They simply become blinded to the truth of
God. How else can one explain Dr Carnley’s statement that salvation is not a place, not even
a state of happiness, but a “relationship”?
If he is right, then salvation is all about this world and nothing else.
Has he never heard of the
term, Kingdom of God, never heard or Jesus’ promise that He would go away and
prepare a place for His followers, never heard of a new heaven and a new earth,
never herd of a marriage between Christ and His bride, the Church, never heard
of a new Jerusalem coming down from heaven to a new earth, never heard of
Jesus’ promise to His Apostles that they would sit on twelve thrones over the
tribes of Israel, never heard that those who follow Jesus Christ now would
become kings and priests in His Kingdom?
There are a lot of things Dr Carnley has never
heard of. Seven years ago, this is what
I wrote in The Christian Herald No 3.
“My lecturers in
the Religious Studies Department were not some unknown entities or
insignificant personalities. Most of them
held important positions in Christian denominations. One of them is now head of the Anglican
Church in one of the Australian states.
He was the worst offender as far as the Bible was concerned. During the week they were
"demythologizing" the Bible to us (taking out the supernatural), and
in the weekend they were preaching from it to their followers. Great sermons,
no doubt! My strength came from the fact
that I was studying both religions and ancient history. Surprisingly, I found that the lecturers in
the Ancient History Department had more confidence in the Bible than those from
the Religious Studies Department. The
historians had little doubt about the authenticity of the New Testament
writings, but the theologians were still searching for the "historical
Jesus". Interestingly, those who
lectured us on Hinduism, Buddhism, other eastern religions, and Islam, never
thought of "demythologizing" their sacred books. They always spoke
with reverence about their faiths. Not so the Jewish and Christian theologians”
(TCH No 3, p.38).
The man of whom I said then
that was the worst offender as far as the Bible was concerned, was none other
than Dr Carnley. I did not name him in 1993 out of
respect for the fact that he was my lecturer (though not for what he taught
me), but now that he has embroiled himself in such controversy and raised the
stakes so high, I don’t think it matters anymore. I believe that it is better if we bring our
opinions into the open so that we discuss our differences. It may be that he who is wrong may take the
opportunity to repent and change. After
all, what do the Scriptures say?
Dr Carnley
quoted John 17, “a Gospel imperative to be one”, in order to maintain unity in
the church. I think a more appropriate explanation would be that he did so in
order to silence his critics. His use of
John 17 for this purpose is a total misquotation of the Scriptures. Could Jesus Christ have called for unity
behind a doctrine of homosexuality? This
is what He said:
Being one with Jesus Christ
and the Father means being one in Spirit, truth, faith, and holiness, not in
perversions that are an abomination to God and His children. One cannot be one
with God, if he does not obey His commandments.
Mat 19:16 “Now behold,
one came and said to Him, "Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I
may have
Mat 19:17 eternal
life?” So He said to him, "Why do
you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is,
God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments."
Here is proof that Dr Carnley’s assertion that salvation is “not a place, not a
state of happiness, but a relationship with God” is false, for Jesus Christ
pointed the way by which we may “enter into life”, not into a
“relationship”. That salvation is about
another world is also proved by the Apostles’ writings.
Down through the centuries,
thousands of people have sacrificed their life in order to attain immortality,
yet now the wise of this world are telling us that their sacrifice was in vain,
that Jesus’ sacrifice was in vain, that the Scriptures are false, that the
Gospel preached by John the Baptist, Jesus Christ and the Apostles, is not
true.
Is it a mere coincidence
that with the appointment of Dr Carnley to the
position of Primate of Australia, the High Court judge Michael Kirby came out
strongly in condemnation of those who think homosexuality is evil, and a
lesbian lobbied heavily to become the Federal President of the Australian
Medical Association? They work in tandem,
knowing exactly what they want, what they are doing, and where they are
aiming.
When he addressed the
students of St Ignatius, Michael Kirby said: “I for one deny that I am
‘intrinsically evil”. Well, he may deny
it, but if he engages in practices that are described in the Scriptures as evil,
he must be prepared to wear the tag assigned to him by God. Does he want to send people who disapprove of
homosexuality to psychiatric treatment out of the goodness of his heart or out
of an evil intention? This is what the
Scriptures say of such people, now what we say.
Rom 2:2 But we know that the judgment of God is
according to truth against those who practice such things.
Should such people be judges
and priests over us when the Scriptures say that “those who practice such
things are deserving of death”? They
have done their best to frighten and silence their critics, and that is why it
was necessary for God to raise a work at this time not associated with any of
the existing churches or religions. For if other churches refuse to do their
job, we shall never stop crying aloud the sins of the world, and never pull
back from our mission. As we said, we may be small and weak in the world, but we
are strong in the Lord. And if God be
for us, who can be against us.
During my university days, I
used to be deeply grieved by the kind of publications I had to study for my
theses, but I could never tell them about it.
It was my luck that I went to university in my thirties, by which time I
had already acquired a strong belief in God and in the authenticity of the
Bible. But I used to feel sorry for my
younger colleagues who had no such experience, whom I could see that were being
negatively affected.
As far as I could ascertain,
Dr Carnley did not believe in the virgin birth, in a
bodily resurrection, in the Holy Spirit, in the end time judgment, in a
transcendental purpose for human life, nor indeed whether Jesus Christ was a
historical figure. His favored author
was a certain Lutheran theologian called Bultman who
specialized in “demithologizing” the Bible and
questioning the historicity of Jesus Christ.
As a good Christian, Dr Carnley sought to
enrich us with Bultman’s theology too.
A few years later, I was
astonished when I saw him being enthroned as head of the Anglican Church in
Western Australia. I was astonished because as an academic he might have had an
excuse in exploring all kinds of un-Christian and unsavory ideas, but not as a
man of the pulpit. Sure enough, not long
afterwards he became the first Anglican Bishop in the world to appoint women to
the priesthood. One of his new “priests”
said in a television interview soon afterwards that she was almost late for the
ordination because she took time to feed her two young twins. Does that tell you anything? Imagine how
inspired her congregation would feel if she had to run from feeding her
children to conduct their religious service.
As it happened, I had the chance to observe her perform a Sunday service
too. Everything followed a prescribed
routine. Even a stranger from the street
could perform such service after a few hours of training, except perhaps for
the final address to the congregation. But these days you can buy entire books
or CD Roms full of nothing but sermons. Is it any wonder that the strength of
people’s beliefs resemble the quality of their religious services? People are not fools: in time they could see
whether their religious leaders are genuine servants of God or mere impostors.
That is why they are leaving these churches in droves.
After he became Primate of
the Anglican Church in Australia, Dr Carnley started
talking about ordaining “non-practicing” homosexuals to the priesthood. “Non-practicing” homosexuals? Does he not know that as far as God is
concerned there is no such a thing as “non-practicing” homosexual? You are either a homosexual, or you are not. Just like you are an adulterer, or you are
not. For when you repent, your slate is
being wiped clean. You do not become a
“non-practicing” homosexual, just as you do not become a “non-practicing” adulterer,
a “non-practicing” fornicator, or a “non-practicing” whatever. You are a Christian, or you are not,
otherwise we are all “non-practicing” one thing or another.
There are many definitions
of sin in the Bible, but generally speaking, any departure from the laws of God
is considered sin. “Whoever commits sin
also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). Here then are God’s straightforward laws to
humanity. Breaking these laws gives us
the first definition of sin.
Exo 20:1 And God spoke all these words, saying:
Exo 20:2 "I am the
LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of
bondage.
Exo 20:3 "You shall
have no other gods before Me.
Exo 20:4 "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;
Exo 20:5 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 of those who hate
Me,
Exo 20:6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who
love Me and keep My commandments.
Exo 20:7 "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.
Exo 20:8 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it
holy.
Exo 20:9 Six days you shall labor and do all your
work,
Exo
Exo 20:11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and
the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day.
Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
Exo
Exo
Exo 20:14 "You shall
not commit adultery.
Exo 20:15 "You shall
not steal.
Exo 20:16 "You shall
not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Exo 20:17 "You shall
not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor
his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor
anything that is your neighbor's."
Keeping the Ten Commandments
was linked by Jesus Christ with eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Mat 19:16 Now behold, one
came and said to Him, "Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may
have
Mat 19:17 eternal life?’ So He said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you
want to enter into life, keep the commandments." He said to Him, "Which ones?"
Jesus said,
Mat 19:18 " 'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not
commit adultery,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness,'
Mat 19:19 'Honor your
father and your mother,' and, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.””
Mat 19:20 The young man
said to Him, "All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still
lack?"
Mat 19:21 Jesus said to
him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the
poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."
Mat 19:22 But when the
young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great
possessions.
Mat 19:23 Then Jesus said
to His disciples, "Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man
to enter the
Mat 19:24 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." When
His disciples heard it,
Mat 19:25 they were greatly astonished, saying,
"Who then can be saved?" But
Jesus looked at them and
Mat 19:26 said to them,
"With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
Notice how Jesus Christ
listed all six commandments that regulate man’s relationship with man, but none
of the first four that regulate his relationship with God. There are several reasons
for that. The first one has to do with
the fact that by that time the Jews were making a great deal of observing the
first four commandments. So much so that
they almost forgot about the rest. This is what Jesus told them in regard to
the fifth commandment.
Mark 7:7 And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as
doctrines the commandments of men.’
Mark 7:8 "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."
Mark 7:9 He said to them, "All too well you
reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.
The Jews were more concerned
with their tradition and with ritual purity than with honoring their parents.
It is for this reason that God told them that they worship Him in vain,
‘Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'
The question of tradition
always comes into the discussion when I talk about religion with my Orthodox
countrymen. They assure me that they would never depart from the tradition of our
parents because that would be a sin. The
implication being that I have already committed an unpardonable sin by doing
so.
Quoting the Scriptures to
them is of little consequence. The priests know better; they would never preach
anything that is not Scriptural they assure me.
Besides, the church has received additional revelations since the New
Testament was completed. Quoting
Phil 2:5 Let this mind be in you which was also in
Christ Jesus,
Phil 2:6 who, being in the form of God, did not
consider it robbery to be equal with God,
Phil 2:7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the
form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
Phil 2:8 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.
Now let us get back to the
definitions of sin. Another reason Jesus
Christ did not quote the first four commandments is that He knew that some
Samaritans, who supposedly worshiped a different God, were more righteous than
the Jews.
Later, the Apostles said a
similar thing about the Gentiles.
Rom 3:9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at
all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all
under sin.
Which proves that all human beings
will be judged on the basis of the life they led in this world, irrespective of
their religion or nationality. Now we
shall look at other definitions of sin.
Prov 21:3 To do righteousness and justice Is more
acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.
Prov 21:4 A haughty look, a proud heart, And the
plowing of the wicked are sin.
First a reminder to the Jews
that their sacrifices without righteousness and justice are useless, a point
confirmed in both the Old and New Testaments.
Heb 10:3-7 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. In burnt offerings and
sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, 'Behold, I have come; In
the volume of the book it is written of Me; To do Your will, O God.'" (Quoted from Psalm 40:6-8).
Then we are told that a
haughty look and a proud heart, or in more common parlance, arrogance and
conceit, the marks of self-centeredness, are also sins.
Prov 24:8 “He who plots to do evil Will be called a
schemer.
Prov 24:9 The devising of foolishness is sin, And the
scoffer is an abomination to men.”
Scheming against other
people, making them the object of mocking, derision and scorn, are sins
too.
Isa 31:7 “For in that day every man shall throw away
his idols of silver and his idols of gold; sin, which your own hands have made
for yourselves.”
This is in conformity with
the second commandment, which prohibits the making and worshipping of images.
Have you seen how faithfully the Catholic and Orthodox Churches observe this
commandment? Or how dedicated to this
commandment were the people who built those gigantic medieval Cathedrals? Some of the statues, images and gargoyles,
which they placed on those buildings, are so grotesque they give you
nightmares, let alone engender a feeling of tranquility and contemplation.
Departing from the God of
the Bible and worshipping other gods is a great sin.
Because prohibition against homosexuality
is not listed among the Ten Commandments, some may have thought that this is
not a sin. Well here is its direct
association with the word sin. But
departing from the true God and going after pagan gods is a greater sin than
homosexuality. That is because from the
first sin it is impossible to recover, whereas from the second one can always
turn back and repent.
Ezek 33:14 "Again, when I say to the wicked, 'You
shall surely die,' if he turns from his sin and does what is lawful
Ezek 33:15 and
right, "If the wicked restores the
pledge, gives back what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life
without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die.
Taking pledges, stealing,
and robbing, are sins deserving of death.
But restoring them puts one in good terms with God. I often think of what happened to me some
three decades ago when I dared go to the headquarters of the Worldwide Church
of God and tell them that what they were preaching was unscriptural. They promptly expelled me from their church
and locked me out of my own flat. That’s what their god teaches them to do.
You have no idea what
lengths they go to find out what I am doing and preaching these days, and the
things they do to make me sin. I feel
sorry for them, for it must be awful having to live with that kind of
conscience for so long. But their case
is typical of those who depart from God, who then desperately try to justify
themselves in their own eyes. Recently,
I received the following letter from one of their ministers in Africa:
“Dear father
Grigore”, “Greetings in the wonderful name of Jesus full of grace and
truth.
- I went through TCH No 8 and decided to
ask your forgiveness. Knowing
full well that I lost my salvation and went astray after joining hands with
those who persecute the Church of God, and the Word of Truth.
- Really I denied that you are not Christ, but
according to what I have read about you in TCH No 8, and what happened
for you, the judge’s action against you which fulfill 1260 days, I feel sorry
and burdened in my soul as a prodigal son, to come back and ask you to forgive
me and accept me back into this Light of Truth, for I know now for ever that
there’s no favor [?] than this!
- Please consider our souls, and our people, so that
you may come one day to prove us, and see if we are worthy to become part of
God’s Kingdom.
- I know, no one brings me in the COG and no one
can put me away of it unless I have sins against God, which is exactly what I
did in 1997. I really repent for Dishonest
tongue (underlining in the original) and for the lies, and hypocrisy. I’m
sorrowful that Devil used me to steal God’s money sometime back; May God have
mercy for me . . . I hope you forgive me
and accept me back, since I open my heart for the Lord and tell & repent
from my sins!
Please forgive
me. Let God forgive me also. This is all for now. Hopping your reply if the
Lord willing.
Your Prodigal Son
! EDS
On the surface, this may appear to be a genuine act of
repentance and heartfelt request for forgiveness. He knows that as a Christian I am under
obligation to forgive. This is what Jesus Christ told His disciples.
Mat 18:21 Then Peter came
to Him and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I
forgive him?
Mat 18:22 Up to seven
times?” Jesus said to him, "I do
not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
But did you notice the
reason for his “road to Damascus” conversion?
“Really I denied that you are not Christ,” said he. Turning the two negatives into a positive,
what he meant is that he denied that I am Christ. But I have never said that I am Christ. I am not Christ now, I was never Christ in
the pat, and never will be Christ in the future! Anyone can read TCH No 8 and see that
I said no such a thing in that edition, or in any of my previous editions. What I have maintained from the very
beginning is that I am merely one of God’s children, and therefore Jesus’
brother, only of a lesser worth and lower rank.
By accepting his supposed act of contrition and repentance, I would
acknowledge that I am Christ, and therefore I would be committing blasphemy.
Can you see how devious they are and how unashamedly they do the work of the
evil one?
He mentioned that in 1997 he
had a dishonest tongue, told lies, was a hypocrite, and allowed the Devil to
use him to steal money from us. What he
did then was that he sent us a letter, telling us in desperation that he, his
family, and a few other people, who had supposedly turned to God recently, were
starving to death because major floods destroyed their means of living. That year much of Africa suffered devastation
as a result of floods, so we believed him, especially since he sent us
newspaper clippings and pictures to prove that what he was telling us was
true.
We wondered why he had
chosen us and how he had heard of us, but you don’t ask such questions of
starving people. We decided to help them
first and ask questions later.
From our little resources,
we put together about $2,000 and sent it to them urgently. Immediately afterwards we were flooded with
similar requests from other people. But
when we did some inquiries, we discovered that he was in fact a minister in the
Worldwide Church of God, and was doing their work of deception and trying to
send us broke.
Now he is coming back to us
telling us that he repented of what he did then, but did not think that
repentance requires a restoration of what, by his own admission, he stole and
acquired by dishonest means.
The leaders of that church
seem to think that by making me sin, they would be justified in the sight of
God for what they did to me back then in the early seventies. Obviously, they have never read this?
Mat 18:6 "But whoever causes one of these little
ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were
hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”
Does anyone doubt that the
following words of Jesus Christ refer to the “Pharisees” of our time?
Mat 23:15 "Woe to
you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one
proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as
yourselves.”
Or that these words of
Apostle Paul refer to the same people?
The battle between the children
of light and the children of darkness continues unabated. But through Jesus Christ we shall overcome it
for He said: "I will never leave you nor forsake you" (Heb 13:5).
Now back to the definition
of sin.
Mat 12:31 "Therefore
I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy
against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.”
Here we come across the
first case of an unpardonable sin: blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Now what
exactly were the Pharisaic Jews doing that constituted blasphemy? They accused Jesus of being possessed by a
wicked spirit and that He performed miracles by the power of the Devil.
Which means that if the Holy
Spirit guides someone, and preaches the Gospel of Jesus Christ in conformity with
the Scriptures, yet he is accused of being a false preacher, the accuser
commits blasphemy.
Denying the work of God,
whether this is manifest in the form of miracles as was the case of Jesus
Christ, or in the form of plagues and disasters as is the case with the
end-time prophets of God (Rev. 11), or even denying and rejecting the Gospel of
the Kingdom of God when you hear this being preached, is a major sin.
1 John 1:8
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is
not in us.”
Here is the first step on
the road to repentance: acknowledging that one is a sinful person. For contrary to the general belief, everyone
is born with a sinful nature, even though he had not yet committed any sin.
Psa 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And
in sin my mother conceived me.
You were conceived in iniquity,
and born with a carnal nature. Which means that even if you had never sinned, which would be
impossible, you would still not qualify for the Kingdom of God. Why?
Because you are carnal, and carnal people are at enmity with God.
Rom 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be
spiritually minded is life and peace.
Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against
God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed
Rom 8:8 can be.
So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Rom 8:9 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.
Here is the Scriptural
definition of a Christian: “if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is
not His.” In other words, the presence
of the Holy Spirit makes you a Christian, not membership into a particular church
or adherence to a particular creed.
When you repent and are
baptized, God implants His seed in you, the Holy Spirit, and a new person
begins to grow inside you, a spiritual person.
That is what Jesus Christ meant by being “born again”.
One has to be born first,
and make good progress towards attaining a godly character, before he can see
the Kingdom of God. You are merely the
clay in God’s hands, a fertile ground for the Holy Spirit. When that work is finished, and you reach
spiritual maturity, God simply takes you out of this world: “Precious in the
sight of the LORD is the death of His saints” (Ps. 116:15). That way you are being spared any further
temptations, and can no longer sin and lose your salvation.
Here Apostle Paul tells us
that he too struggled with his own carnal nature. A reflection of the internal battle that
takes place inside everyone who turns to God in repentance. Along the way, we
are all tried and tested until we reach the required strength of
character. As Apostle Peter wrote:
It is the strength of your
character that determines your position in the Kingdom of God. That position is for eternity, therefore it
is worth making any effort to overcome human nature and develop godly character
while still in this world. Nowhere is the saying ‘mind over matter’ more
applicable and appropriate than in this case.
Here the Gentiles are placed
in the same category as the good Samaritans. By instinct, they observe the law
of God, and that makes them worthy candidates for salvation, alongside the
pious and faithful of Jews.
James 2:8 If you really fulfill the royal law according
to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself,"
James 2:9 you do well;
but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law
as transgressors.
If you know how to do good
and refuse to do it, is a sin. This is a very broad category, but one which
indicates that you cannot sit on your laurels and say, I have done my duty, I have
overcome the world, I have achieved control over my own human nature, now I can
take it easy, enjoy myself, and wait for the salvation of the Lord.
There is so much good that
needs to be done in this word, one hardly knows where to start. As a suggestion, you can start by supporting
this work, for we can do with helpful hands in every country of the world. There is no other work more worthy of your
support than this one. For if we do not succeed in our mission, this world has
had it.
Mal 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
Mal 4:6 And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to
the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and
strike the earth with a curse."
THINKING IS NOT
SINNING
Many people are in a
terrible dilemma about recurring thoughts, which they think will lead them to
hell. They do not realize that mere thoughts are not a sin unless they are
fulfilled. Take a careful look at the following Scriptures:
Job 31:1 "I have made a covenant with my eyes;
Why then should I look upon a young
Job 31:2 woman?
For what is the allotment of God from above, And the inheritance of the
Almighty from on high?
Job 31:3 Is it not destruction for the wicked, And
disaster for the workers of iniquity?
Job 31:7 If my step has turned from the way, Or my
heart walked after my eyes, Or if any spot adheres to my
Job 31:8 hands, then let me sow, and another
eat.” Yes, let my harvest be rooted out.
Job 31:9 "If my heart has been enticed by a
woman, Or if I have lurked at my neighbor’s door,
Job 31:10 Then let my wife grind for another, And let
others bow down over her.
Job 31:11 For that would be wickedness; Yes, it would
be iniquity deserving of judgment.
Here we have four statements
of intent which are not sins unless carried to fruition: “If I made a covenant
with my eyes”, “ if my heart walked after my eyes”, "If my heart has been
enticed by a woman”, and “if I have lurked at my neighbor's door” (presumably
to entice his wife). A similar sentiment
is expressed in the epistle of James:
Only when the desire has
conceived does it gives birth to sin. Only then have you fallen from grace, not
when fleeting thoughts pass through your mind.
This is how we must view the following statement of Jesus Christ too.
Mat. 5:28
"But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has
already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
If you look at a woman and
think that she is beautiful, it is not a sin, but if you look at her and begin
to lust after her, it becomes a sin. All
this is a reflection of the tenth commandment. Do you know which one that is?
Ex. 20:17 "You shall
not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor
his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor
anything that is your neighbor's."
People tend to think that
the sixth and seventh commandments (against killing and adultery) are the most
difficult, when in fact they are the easiest.
The most difficult commandment is the tenth, for it deals with intent
rather than acts. There is a long way
from intent to act. You can always turn
back before committing an act, but it is not so with your thoughts. You must
control and sift them before they become enshrined in your mind, and you become
obsessed by them and become their slave.
It is a struggle which only you and God know about, but one which you
can only win with the help of the Holy Spirit.
If you keep the
commandments, you receive the “spirit of truth”, the Helper, who will abide
with you forever. But after you receive Him,
you must feed Him a steady stream of spiritual food, otherwise you quench
Him.
Notice carefully how Apostle
Paul spoke of “spirit, soul, and body”.
Some fundamentalist churches deny that human beings have independent
souls. They say that their bodies are their “living souls”. Which means that after death when the body
disappears there is nothing left which can be resurrected. But what did Jesus Christ say?
Mat 10:28 "And do
not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him
who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
So body and soul are
different entities. And while human
beings can kill the body, only God can destroy both body and soul. What does that tell you about the notion,
popularized by virtually all religions, that human souls are immortal? That is the difference between true
Christianity and other religions. Here
is more proof of it:
Ezek 18:4 . . .
“The soul who sins shall die.
The souls that sin shall die
– be wiped out forever – in a great lake of fire, not be tormented forever in
hell, or in a never ending chain of incarnations in various forms of life. Other churches say that the Holy Spirit is a
non-entity, an object, a nebulous power by which God directs and creates
things. In so doing, they deny the
personality of the Holy Spirit and deny the Trinity, a doctrine clearly
enunciated by Jesus Christ.
Mat 28:18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying,
"All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
Mat 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all
the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Mat 28:20 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.
In the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit – could anything be clearer? Aren’t the words of Jesus Christ enough to
convince anyone of the truthfulness of this doctrine? If you do not understand something, why make
it worse by denying it altogether?
Because by denying the personality of the Holy Spirit, you deny your own
salvation (For a comprehensive discussion on this topic, see The Christian
Herald No 5). It is for this reason
that people are no longer able to discern truth from falsehood, or to “test all
things” and “test the spirits”.
1 John 4:1 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.
1 John 4:2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every
spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,
1 John 4:3 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.
In this passage we come across
another puzzling statement: “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh . . . every
spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of
God . . . is the spirit of the Antichrist”.
Few people understand how
Jesus Christ “has come in the flesh”. He
does so through the Holy Spirit. For
just as the Father lived in Him through the Holy Spirit when He was in the
flesh, Jesus lives in us through the Holy Spirit while we are in the flesh. The
presence of the Holy Spirit makes us temples of the living God.
This is what sets aside
those who are tuned in to the wisdom of God from those who wallow in the wisdom
of this world; those who are guided by the spirit of truth, from those who are
guided by a spirit of error.
1 John 4:4 You are of God, little children, and have
overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the
1 John 4:5 world. They are not of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the
world hears them.
1 John 4:6 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
1 John 4:7 truth and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is
of God; and everyone who loves is born of
1 John 4:8 God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for
God is love.
1 John 5:1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is
born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is
begotten of Him.
1 John 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of
God, when we love God and keep His commandments.
1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His
commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
1 John 5:4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the
world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world; our faith.
1 John 5:5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who
believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Other people preach that one
is born of God not while living in this world but after being resurrected into
the Kingdom of God. But take another
look at
Mat 16:13 “When
Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples,
saying, "Who do men
Mat 16:14 say that I, the
Son of Man, am?” So they said,
"Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others
Mat 16:15 Jeremiah or one
of the prophets.” He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
Mat 16:16 Simon Peter
answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Mat 16:17 Jesus answered
and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood
has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”
One cannot achieve a qualitative
salt from the wisdom of the world to the wisdom of God unless he repents and
reconciles himself with God first. But
repentance is a mature conscious act, not something for children. While children can be blessed and confirmed
in one’s faith, as Jesus Christ did with those who were brought to Him, that
does not represent an act of repentance and of receiving of the Holy Spirit.
I am often asked in this
context, what about the children who have died in infancy having never sinned,
where are they going if not to heaven?
Aren’t they entitled to a life like the rest of us? The answer to the first question is, they are
going nowhere, and to the second, no one is entitled to anything. One has no automatic right to eternal life
any more than he has the right to this life.
We are God’s clay, and He does with us as He pleases.
Young children have never
sinned, but they are still made of carnal nature and therefore not
automatically qualified for the Kingdom of God.
But neither are they candidates for the hell
fire. We do not know much about God’s
judgment, but what we do know is that it is not going to be a rushed
affair. God has eternity before Him, and
can take as long as He needs to determine whether one deserves a place in His
Kingdom or not. He could see the nature
of human beings from the very beginning, and thus can determine who should be
granted the Holy Spirit and transformed into a new person and who should
not. The Holy Spirit can transform one
into a new person in a fraction of a second.
Children who have never sinned stand an infinitely better chance of
immortality than those who have grown to maturity and wasted their life.
A Jewish rabbi once made the
following witty remark. “When my baby was little I held him up in arms and
could not see how God would ask Abraham to kill his son.But
now that he has grown into a teenager I can see it.”
This may be light hearted,
but it proves the point that children are made of carnal nature too, and that
predisposes them to sin as soon as they are capable of it. Human nature needs
to come under the control of spirit nature if human beings are to be saved. They need to be “born again” as Jesus Christ
clearly stated it.
He also said: "The last will be first, and the first
last. For many are called, but few chosen" (Mat 20:16). This seems to indicate that not all are
called, and of those who are only a few are chosen for eternal life. Some are
probably so evil that God doesn’t bother to call them to repentance
anymore. But of those who are called,
only those who “overcome to the end” will be granted a place into His Kingdom.
Mat 10:22 "And you
will be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who endures to the end will
be saved.
Not all human beings are
destined to become priests and kings in the Kingdom of God, but only those who
are called to repentance at this time.
The task of overcoming in this world full of temptations is commensurate
with the position that will be granted them in the Kingdom of God if they
succeed.
Rev 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying: "You
are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And
have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people
and nation,
The rest of humanity will be
judged at the end of time and granted a place in the Kingdom of Heaven
according to their deeds. Apostle Paul
made an analogy here with the stars of heaven.
People of all nations and
religions know the difference between right and wrong even without the Holy
Spirit. They can all aspire to do good, and even if they do not attain perfection in this
world, they stand a good chance of being granted a place in the Kingdom of God
on the basis of their present life.
When God grants repentance
to someone, it has important implications for his salvation. One cannot come in and out of repentance at
will. One cannot repent, and not repent,
and then repent again. The prize for
those who are called to repentance at this time is great, but so is the
punishment for those who turn back.
Rev 1:5 . . . Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the
firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth.
To Him who loved
us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,
Rev 1:6 and
has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and
dominion forever and ever.
Heb 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once
enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have
Heb 6:5 become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have
tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to
Heb 6:6 come, if they fall away, to renew them again
to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put
Him to an open shame.
Those who refuse to turn to
God when their call for repentance comes, and refuse to grow in grace and
knowledge, become God’s enemies and lose their salvation. That is why Luke’s
parable about the talents ends with: “bring here those enemies of mine, who did
not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me'" (Luke 19:27).
This does not mean that
after repentance you will never sin again, because most certainly you
will. But if you remain faithful and in a
repentant mood you will rise up and keep going and overcoming to the end. As the Scriptures say:
1 John 5:4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the
world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world; our faith.”
1 John 5:5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who
believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”
Mat 10:22 "And you
will be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be
saved.”
Rev 2:7 "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.”
Mat 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all
the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Mat 28:20 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.
When you give in to temptation, remember, not
all sins are terminal. You can recover from some, but not from others. You cannot recover from blasphemy for
example. That is why when you speak about God, Jesus Christ and the Holy
Spirit, you better be careful what you say for you could be digging your own
grave.
Studying the Scriptures,
praying and worshiping God, gives you the strength to overcome sin, and renders
you approved in His sight.
By “word of truth” he did
not mean just the New Testament, but the entire Bible. In his first epistle to
the Corinthians, Apostle Paul wrote:
1 Cor 10:1 Moreover,
brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the
cloud, all
1 Cor 10:2 passed
through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all
ate the same
1 Cor 10:3 spiritual
food, and all drunk the same spiritual drink.
For they drank
1 Cor 10:4 of that
spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.
Did you notice who guided
the people of
“All these things happened
to them as examples”, said Apostle Paul.
Examples for whom? For the Jews? He was writing to the Corinthians. They were examples not only for the Jews, but
also for the Corinthians, the Gentiles, and the whole world.
Zec 2:10 "Sing and
rejoice, O daughter of Zion! For behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your
midst," says the LORD.
Zec 2:11 "Many
nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and they shall become My people. And I will dwell in your midst. Then you will
know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you.
Many nations shall be joined
to the Lord in that day and shall become His people and that is why they need
to be familiar with His Gospel. Apostle
Paul knew these things, not the least because Jesus Christ taught him.
Yes, by the grace of God we
all are what we are. But His grace
cannot be taken for grated. We must do
our part to deserve it, and complement the work that God is doing in us.
One of the best-documented
periods of the ancient world comes from the time of the Roman occupation of the
Holy Land during the ministry of Jesus Christ. Great literary, historical, and
religious works from that period have survived to our time. They give us a
pretty clear picture of what that world was like. We know their form of
government, their justice system, military organization, social structure,
customs, religious beliefs, mode of transport, clothes, food, etc. Yet in spite of this wealth of information,
the Dead Sea Scrolls, which come from that period, continue to baffle scholars
from around the world.
It is as if the Qumran
people, who produced these documents, lived in void, leaving us no trace of
their true identity, or why they chose to move away from Jerusalem and live
near the Dead Sea.
They seem to have gone out
of their way to hide from the world their true identity and that of their
leaders. They spoke of a Teacher of Righteousness and a wicked priest, but
without telling us who they were, or giving their real names.
Astonishingly, this very
secrecy gives us the best clue about their true identity. But in order to understand that, we need to
look at a few important historical developments within the earliest Churches of
God.
Many people may be surprised
to discover that the Scriptures speak of three kinds of Christianities for that
period, quite different from each other: the Christianity of Apostle Peter, of
Apostle Paul, and of James. We will look
at each one separately, beginning with the first.
The very first Church of God
was established on the day of Pentecost in the year of Jesus’ crucifixion and
ascension to heaven. It is not entirely clear what year that was: the date
varies between the years 27 to 33 AD.
Fundamentalist Christians think it was earlier, traditional Christians
think it was later. From our point of
view it doesn’t matter, the difference is not all that great to matter. What maters though is what kind of
Christianity that was, what were their beliefs, practices, and form of
organization, and what transpired of them in the end.
In the book of Acts, we have
the description of a unique event which would change the lives of those
involved, and affect the history of the entire world from then on. We refer, of
course, to the arrival of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.
Acts 2:1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come,
they were all with one accord in one place.
Acts 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven,
as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they
Acts 2:3 were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues,
as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Acts 2:5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews,
devout men, from every nation under heaven.
And when this sound
Acts 2:6 occurred, the multitude came together, and
were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language.
Acts 2:7 Then they were all amazed and marveled,
saying to one another, "Look, are not all these who speak
Acts 2:8 Galleans? "And how is it that we hear, each in our
own language in which we were born?
Here now are the main characteristics of this
congregation:
1) It was established by Apostle Peter, the Apostle to the
“circumcision”;
2) They were all Jews.
The Gentiles’ time would not come until more than a decade later;
3) They believed in prophetic fulfillment and determinism:
things happened according to the will and foreknowledge of God;
4) They did not believe in life after death. David, the famous king of Israel, “did not ascend
into the heavens”. If a man after God’s
own heart (Acts 13:22) did not ascend into the heavens, you can be sure that no
one else did. This is confirmed by
5) They believed in resurrection from the dead. Although this is
not specifically spoken of in this passage, the fact that they were yet to
receive their promised inheritance meant that they would have to be resurrected
at a future time. Later writers spoke in
detail about future resurrections.
6) The expression, “as many as the Lord our God will call"
implied a certain kind of exclusiveness.
Not all people would be called, and not all would become part of God’s
elect.
7) From the Gospel of John, we know that Apostle Peter believed
that Jesus Christ would return soon.
Clearly, Jesus wanted His
followers to be prepared all the time, believing that His return would be
imminent. That way they would remain on
guard and eschew the danger of becoming complacent and lukewarm,
and thus easy pray to temptations (See
8) This
congregation was organized on the principle of communality.
9) Apostle Peter’s congregation retained many of the Jewish customs
and practices – circumcision, dietary laws, washings, etc. Some of them were justified, as they had
become ingrained in the Jewish tradition and culture, but others became a
source of confusion and contention between the Apostles when the Gentiles were
converted.
Paul withstood Peter “to his
face” when he did not behave towards the Gentiles in an appropriate manner, and
treated them as second-class citizens rather than as brothers in the
faith. Now notice carefully, Apostle
Peter behave that way only after certain Jews came from James. James was conducting a different kind of
Christianity than that of both Peter and Paul.
James was the Lord’s brother, but he was not one of the original
Apostles. He was not privy to the
teachings of Jesus Christ, and was more deeply rooted in the Jewish traditions
than were the other Apostles. When he took
it upon himself to tell the Apostles how they ought to organize their
congregations, they did not like it. Notice what happened when they convened a
council in Jerusalem to determine the question of circumcision for the
Gentiles.
Acts 15:6 Now the apostles and elders came together to
consider this matter.
Acts 15:7 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.
Acts 15:8 "So God, who knows the heart,
acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us,
Acts 15:9 and made no distinction between us and them,
purifying their hearts by faith. "Now therefore, why do you
Apostle Peter would have
been happy to let things stand the way Apostle Paul organized them, but then
James stood up and added his bit. He
said that the Gentiles should “abstain from things polluted by idols, from
sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.” And what did Apostle Paul do with that
advise?
Not exactly what James had suggested,
is it? Apostle Paul clearly felt that he knew better, and rightly so, for he
was the most educated of them all, and the best qualified to determine the
correct standards for the Gentile Churches of God. After all, he was the Apostle for the uncircumcised,
not James.
Gal 2:7 “But on the contrary, when they saw that the
gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as the gospel for the
circumcised was to Peter. . . “
This brings us to the
Gentile Churches of Apostle Paul.
Apostle Paul took great
responsibility upon himself when he set up the Gentile Churches of God on
principles which differed from those on which the Jewish Churches were
established. The fact that his
Christianity survived to our time, tells us that he was rightly inspired by the
Holy Spirit.
He had to do battle on two
fronts: on the one hand he had to overcome the Gentiles’ hostility towards a
new religion and a new God, and on the other he had to withstand the opposition
from his own people for going over to the Gentiles and preaching that those who
believe in Jesus Christ had become the new chosen people.
Gal 1:6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon
from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel,
Gal 1:7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want
to pervert the gospel of Christ.
Gal 1:8 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
Gal 1:9 accursed.
As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other
gospel to you
Col 2:16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink,
or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths,
Apostle Paul enhanced his
authority by emphasizing the fact that he was taught directly by Jesus Christ.
He performed a complete
turnaround from his opposition to Christianity when Jesus Christ entered his
life. It was only then that he understood the meaning of the new religion and
the need for a New Testament
Gal 2:3 Yet not even Titus who was with me, being a
Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.
Gal 2:4 And this occurred because of false brethren
secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we
have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage), to whom we did
not yield submission even
Gal 2:5 for an hour, that the truth of the gospel
might continue with you.
Remember the term “false
brethren” when we discuss the Christianity of James, for these Jews clearly
believed that they were Christians. They
felt that they were empowered to preach their brand of Christianity to the
Gentiles, and since they came from Jerusalem that authority could only have
been from James. But more on this later.
Gal 2:6 But from those who seemed to be something;
whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God shows personal favoritism
to no man; for those who seemed to be something added nothing to me.
Gal 2:7 But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel
for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as the gospel for the
circumcised was to Peter (for He who worked effectively in Peter for the
apostleship to the
Gal 2:8 circumcised also worked effectively in me
towards the Gentiles), and when James, Cephas, and
John,
Gal 2:9 who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace
that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of
fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.
Notice how in describing his
trip to Jerusalem, Apostle Paul mentions the circumcision, but says nothing
about the restrictions on food suggested by James. Knowing that he had done the very opposite,
He tried to be diplomatic by mentioning James first alongside Cephas and John.
After placing James in a
positive light at first, he is now being mentioned in connection with those
“false brethren” who were introducing wrong ideas among the Gentiles. Peter knew that restrictions on food were
unnecessary (He had visions from heaven about that. See Acts 10), but was not
in the mood to fight James over this issue. But for Apostle Paul this was an
important mater. He was the Apostle to the Gentiles and treated them as worthy
companions in the faith. He did not like Peter’s attitude towards them, nor did
he think that hey needed to be circumcised or to observe the dietary laws of
the Jews.
Here he stressed the fact
that people are not “justified by the works of the law but by faith”, a point
he also emphasized in his epistle to the Romans: “Where is boasting then? It is
excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we
conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law” (Rom
3:27-28) .
James however, took issue
with this concept and wrote, “faith by itself, if it
does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith, and I
have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my
faith by my works” (James 2:17-18). The
truth is, they were both right, and that is why the Holy Spirit preserved both
their writings. For the grace of God comes
without regard for any works, but once you are called to repentance, you are
expected to produce works as proof your faith.
Gal 3:2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you
receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Gal 3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the
Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?
Gal 3:4 Have you suffered so many things in vain; if
indeed it was in vain?
Gal 3:5 Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you
and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of
Gal 3:6 the law, or by the hearing of faith? Just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was
accounted to him for righteousness.’
Gal 3:7 Therefore
know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.
Gal 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would
justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand,
Gal 3:9 saying, "In you all the nations shall be
blessed." So then those who are of
faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
By telling the Gentiles that
works could not save them, Apostle Paul came in conflict with James who, as we
saw, believed that works do have an important role to play in the process of
salvation. Now although it my appear
that they were miles apart on a number of issues, their writings fit very well
together into the general Christian framework.
For although they had differences, they were not conducted in a spirit
of hatred, but in a civilized and friendly manner. James may appear to have had
the weaker case, but in fact he merely complemented what Paul said. His epistle represents an important
contribution to the New Testament.
Their writings harmonize and
complement each other wonderfully when seen in their proper context. This was the time when the Holy Spirit was
putting together the New Testament. The
people who wrote those epistles, had no idea that they would end up forming the
bone of the New Testament, and become part of the universal Gospel of Jesus
Christ.
Now which law was Apostle
Paul referring to here? Which law had
been nailed to the cross? (Col. 2:14).
Not the Ten Commandments for sure, for Jesus Christ said: "If you
love Me, keep My commandments. And I
will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide
with you forever; the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because
it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and
will be in you” (John 14:15-17).
If you do not keep the
commandments you cannot receive the “Helper, the Spirit of truth”, and without
Him, you cannot make any sense of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. It is for this reason that traditional
Christianity’s understanding of the Scriptures is so abysmally low. Remember how when a young man asked Jesus
what he must do to inherit eternal life He told him to keep the commandments
(Mat. 19:16-19). Therefore, if you want
to receive the Holy Spirit and attain eternal life, you must begin by keeping
the Ten Commandments, including the fourth one, which refers to the Sabbath.
Traditional Christians say that the Ten Commandments have been done away with,
and shifted the day of worship from the Sabbath to the day of the sun. Can you see now why their understanding of
the Scriptures is so abysmally low?
It you do not keep the
commandments, you cannot receive the Holy Spirit, and without the Holy Spirit
you cannot be a Christian. If you are not a Christian you cannot attain eternal
life, “for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must
be saved" (Acts 4:12).
It was the law of animal
sacrifices that has been nailed by Jesus Christ to the cross. The blood of animals could not wipe out the
sins of human beings. It was His blood
that atoned for our sins.
Proof of this is the fact
that this law was given “four hundred and thirty years” after the Israelites
went to Egypt. The Ten Commandments have
been in force since the beginning of the world.
Both Abraham and the Gentiles of his day kept them. “And Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, "What have
you done to us? How have I offended you that you have brought on me and on my
kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me that ought not to be done".
Read the entire story in
It was the law of sacrifices
that was introduced for the first time at the time of the Exodus, “till the
Seed should come”. In other words, it was introduced to lead us to Christ, and
make us understand the meaning of His sacrifice. That is that law that was nailed to the
cross, not the Ten Commandments.
Yes, it was the law of
sacrifices that was “our tutor” till Christ, for if the Ten Commandments had
been annulled we could commit blasphemy, murder, adultery, etc., and still be
saved.
The Jews were very upset when some of their
contemporaries took the Gospel to the Gentiles.
They couldn’t bring themselves to think that the Gentiles could be as
good as they were, and were willing to commit murder in order to maintain their
exclusivity. "Then He said to me, 'Depart, for I will send you far from
here to the Gentiles. And they listened to him until this word, and then they
raised their voices and said, "Away with such a fellow from the earth, for
he is not fit to live!" (Acts 22:21-22).
Gal 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which
Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with
Gal 5:2 yoke of bondage. Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become
circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.
Gal 5:3 And I testify again to every man who becomes
circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.
Gal 5:4 You have become estranged from Christ, you
who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from
Gal 5:5 grace.
For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by
faith.
Gal 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through
love.
So then, there are three
major differences between the Christianity of Apostle Peter and that of Apostle
Paul. Paul’s Christians were not required to circumcise themselves, to observe
the dietary laws, and were not pooling their possessions to live
communally. Now let us look at some of
their common points.
1) They both believed in the imminent return of Jesus
Christ. Apostle Paul wrote:
2) Neither believed in immortality of the soul, or in going to
heaven after death. Instead, they both
believed in resurrection from the dead and in an end-time judgment of God.
3) They were both deterministic in nature. They believed in prophetic fulfillment, and
in predestination.
4) They both observed the same Holy Days. These were the Holy Days given by God to
Moses. (We have discussed this subject in detail in The Christian Herald No
4. Please send for your free copy).
It is to be noticed that none of the Holy Days observed by present day
Christianity was observed by the Apostles and the early Christians, and none is
mentioned in the New Testament. What the
Christians observe now are Roman holy days imposed on Christianity about three
hundred years later when the
Now while Apostle Paul
resisted any attempt to impose Jewish customs on to the Gentiles, he
unhesitatingly adopted the Jewish Holy Days for his Christians. He even made
the point that it is to them that the Gentiles must look if they want to know
which are the “oracles” of God.
Rom 3:2 Much in
every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God.”
He knew that the Sabbaths were signs between
God and His people, the signs that identify the people of God.
Exo 31:13 "Speak
also to the children of
Exo 31:16 'Therefore the
children of
Exo 31:17 perpetual
covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of
The term “Sabbaths” refers
to all of God’s Holy Days – the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
Pentecost, Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles and, of
course, the weekly Sabbath.
You may have heard the term,
”the lost Ten Tribes of Israel”. They became
lost, or better said, lost their identity, when they separated from