1 Peter 2:15-16
15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.
Foolish= G 0878 The religiously unenlightened.
Free= G 1658 applicable meaning: free from the dominion of sin or free in the possession of gospel privileges.
Servant= G 1401 Gives the idea of one pledges or bound to serve. In context with the verse it is a servanthood of choice. Similar to a bond servant.
This is NOT the same word used for a domestic servant or a household slave, which would be G 3610.
Romans 6:17-18
17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
Slaves= G 1401
Obedient= G 5219 To render submissive acceptance.
Teachings= G 1322 Instructions
Committed= G 3860 committed to, delivered to, and yielded to.
Righteousness= G 1343 fair and equitable dealings, piety, or a provision or means for justification.
(The teachings that they were delivered to is the covenant and judging by 1 Peter 2:15-16 those who are outside of the covenant are spiritually destitute)
Deut. 6:25 And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us.
Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
( Read James 2:14-26)
James 2:20 (GNV)
20 But wilt thou understand, O thou vain man, that the faith which is without works, is dead?
We are saved BY grace but in order to attain grace we must have faith. In order for your faith to be alive you must have works. Those works are obedience to the covenant. If we have true faith it will foster obedience. As a reward we gain righteousness, our faith lives and thrives, God offers us grace, and through that grace we are saved.
Just to reiterate. We are not saved BY our works. Our faith foster in us a state of obedience, without which our faith would die out. A living faith is required for us to have access to God's free gift of saving grace.
By extension we are never free because in order to have living faith (and through such, have saving grace) we must become bondservants to God and subject ourselves to His law. There is no other path to salvation.
The very word "Faith" is G 4102 - pistis derived from another form of pistis (G 3982) which means simply to believe or to yield. Assent, i.e covenant.
This is what James talks about when he says "Faith without works is dead." To have living faith we must yield to the covenant.
(Read John 14)
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
John 14:15 ¶ “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
John 14:21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
John 14:23-24
Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
1John 5:1 ¶ Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.
1John 5:2-3
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
1 John 2:3-4
3And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
All these verses serve to prove that we must keep obedience to the covenant in order to have living faith and through that faith saving grace. In order to do that we must subject ourselves as bondservants to God.
Biblically a bond servant was a hired hand that was released from his master but out if love and devotion to his master he chose to be a slave for life.
Even though God offers to let us free from His instructions (we do have that option) we must, if we love him, (John 14:5) keep his commandments and willingly volunteer to subject ourselves as slaves to him for the rest if our life.
If we don't subject ourselves to God we do not, then, become free. We simply go back to our old master, sin (satan). There are two laws, the laws of sin and he laws of God. (Covenant) and we are ALWAYS subject to one or the other.
We are not UNDER the law of God because to be under means we are condemned by it.
Romans 3:19 says we are no longer under the law. The word "under" G 1722 literally means, in the sight of or before judicially. So we are before a jury, and people do not get set before a jury unless they have trespassed the law. So we are not under (subject to the penalty of) the law because our trespasses have been forgiven and paid in full. Does this mean we can then continue to trespass and we don't have to obey the law anymore?
Rom. 6:15 ¶ What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!
Sin is transgression of the law. (1 John 3:4)
This word "law" G 458 is traced back specifically to the covenant God set forth in Exodus.
These things have not changes since their giving.
Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Messiah was in the beginning with God and IS God. (John 1:1) this being the case Messiah was there when God gave the covenant in Exodus and being that He IS God, he himself gave the covenant. If he is the same he would not have changed His covenant. Our God is not a covenant breaker.
Malachi 3:6
“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed."
So we must chose this day whom we will serve. Just as Joshua said in Joshua 24. Notice there was no option to serve no one. You WILL be serving someone. They had to chose who they would serve, false "gods" (satan) or the True God.
Serve= H 5647 Literally means to work, labor, worship etc... (Be obedient to) and means to reduce to servitude or to enslave.
If we truly wish to follow God how can we follow if we do not what He says? We must be willing to do what He has told us to do even if it ruffles some feathers... Even if those feathers happen to be OUR feathers.
Ecclesiastes 12:13
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
Showing posts with label God's Word. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God's Word. Show all posts
Thursday, July 2, 2015
Sunday, June 14, 2015
The Fear of the Lord
The biblical word for Fear (H3374). appears 45 times and most all these times is referring to the fear of the Lord. This is not the same word as, I "FEAR" that bear or I "FEAR" death etc...
The fear H3374 of the Lord. By definition is...
Fear, terror, awesome or terrifying thing.
Fear (of God) respect, reverence, piety.
Piety: 1. Reverence to God or devout fulfillment of religious obligation.
So then... what are our religious obligations?
Psalm 111:7-10
The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure.
They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.
He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.
Psalm 112:1
Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.
All His commandments are sure for ever and ever. (So are they done away with?) It also says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom... the beginning mind you, not the completion of fulfillment. So if the fear of the Lord requires that we devoutly fulfill our religious obligations... How many truly fear the Lord?
Ecclesiastes 12:13
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
The age old question... "What is the meaning of life?
Deut. 10:12-13
And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,
To keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?
Deut. 6:2
Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it:
That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.
Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.
Mic. 6:8
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
The fear of the Lord also requires that we "Walk humbly (or meekly) with our God
The hebrew word for Meek/humble (H6035) By definition is poor, humble, afflicted, meek, humble, lowly. Commonly with the added notion of a lowly, pious,(note the presence of piety once more) and modest mind, which prefers to bear injuries rather than return them.
Just to restate... "Which prefers to BEAR an injury rather than return.
Num. 12:3 in speaking of Moses it uses H6035 twice, side by side. Denoting an exclamatory statement.
Moses was wrongly spoken against by Arron and Miriam and would have been well within his rights to defend himself... however he said nothing. This is where it calls him, "The humblest of all men." (Quite a standard to set!)
We see Moses was in the right because God, then calls Arron and Miriam out to the tabernacle and rebukes them for their behavior.
Looking at Moses, most of what the bible tells us of him is him trying to make sure all Israel was keeping the commandments/covenant.
Mathew 5:5 "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth."
Inherit G2816 is to acquire by lot, obtain or receive as a possession.
Earth G1093 is simply earth or ground but it also says, by way of eminence the Chosen Land. (Israel)
Considering Moses was to lead Israel to inherit the promise land I find that very interesting.
Also noteworthy is Psalm 25:9 " The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way."
Now... lets talk motives? Why do we keep the law? Because it gains us salvation? Of course not. Salvation comes by grace through faith.
See James 2:14-26
Verse 20 says, "But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?"
So in order to remain under grace we must maintain a living faith through works. Faith caries the the idea of ascent to the covenant. (The works that must follow to keep it alive)
So we can conclude that we should keep the law not only out of fear of punishment, love for God, duty, etc... But to remain under grace and have a living faith. Also to obtain the fear of the Lord and the beginning of wisdom and to fullfil our religious obligations and duty to Him. Not to look good, seem holly, or "buy" our way into heaven. That is the wrong motive.
We can keep the letter of the law. (Honor our parents verbally and socially etc...) But if we harbor malice in our heart towards them we have missed the spirit of the law and our efforts are meaningless. If we keep the letter and not the spirit we are not truly keeping anything at all.
So to fear the Lord is to obey His word and his commandments with meekness, rather taking harm dealt instead dealing harm out.
The fear H3374 of the Lord. By definition is...
Fear, terror, awesome or terrifying thing.
Fear (of God) respect, reverence, piety.
Piety: 1. Reverence to God or devout fulfillment of religious obligation.
So then... what are our religious obligations?
Psalm 111:7-10
The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure.
They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.
He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.
Psalm 112:1
Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.
All His commandments are sure for ever and ever. (So are they done away with?) It also says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom... the beginning mind you, not the completion of fulfillment. So if the fear of the Lord requires that we devoutly fulfill our religious obligations... How many truly fear the Lord?
Ecclesiastes 12:13
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
The age old question... "What is the meaning of life?
Deut. 10:12-13
And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,
To keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?
Deut. 6:2
Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it:
That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.
Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.
Mic. 6:8
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
The fear of the Lord also requires that we "Walk humbly (or meekly) with our God
The hebrew word for Meek/humble (H6035) By definition is poor, humble, afflicted, meek, humble, lowly. Commonly with the added notion of a lowly, pious,(note the presence of piety once more) and modest mind, which prefers to bear injuries rather than return them.
Just to restate... "Which prefers to BEAR an injury rather than return.
Num. 12:3 in speaking of Moses it uses H6035 twice, side by side. Denoting an exclamatory statement.
Moses was wrongly spoken against by Arron and Miriam and would have been well within his rights to defend himself... however he said nothing. This is where it calls him, "The humblest of all men." (Quite a standard to set!)
We see Moses was in the right because God, then calls Arron and Miriam out to the tabernacle and rebukes them for their behavior.
Looking at Moses, most of what the bible tells us of him is him trying to make sure all Israel was keeping the commandments/covenant.
Mathew 5:5 "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth."
Inherit G2816 is to acquire by lot, obtain or receive as a possession.
Earth G1093 is simply earth or ground but it also says, by way of eminence the Chosen Land. (Israel)
Considering Moses was to lead Israel to inherit the promise land I find that very interesting.
Also noteworthy is Psalm 25:9 " The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way."
Now... lets talk motives? Why do we keep the law? Because it gains us salvation? Of course not. Salvation comes by grace through faith.
See James 2:14-26
Verse 20 says, "But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?"
So in order to remain under grace we must maintain a living faith through works. Faith caries the the idea of ascent to the covenant. (The works that must follow to keep it alive)
So we can conclude that we should keep the law not only out of fear of punishment, love for God, duty, etc... But to remain under grace and have a living faith. Also to obtain the fear of the Lord and the beginning of wisdom and to fullfil our religious obligations and duty to Him. Not to look good, seem holly, or "buy" our way into heaven. That is the wrong motive.
We can keep the letter of the law. (Honor our parents verbally and socially etc...) But if we harbor malice in our heart towards them we have missed the spirit of the law and our efforts are meaningless. If we keep the letter and not the spirit we are not truly keeping anything at all.
So to fear the Lord is to obey His word and his commandments with meekness, rather taking harm dealt instead dealing harm out.
Saturday, April 11, 2015
"Authority of the Scripture."
This is going to be a short post but I want to address an issue that I am seeing within the "christian" community. All of us are guilty of this, don't get me wrong... even myself.
Often times the things I write about are just as much for my benefit as for the benefit of others.
I would like to address the "Authority of the Scripture."
Without getting exceedingly in-depth, first I would like to point out that due to all bibles being a copy of a copy of a copy... and on top of that it is a modern translation of one language into another... there will always be issues of interpretation.
These issues must be solved by not isolating single scriptures. They must be compared to the bible as a whole and set side by side with parallels in scripture by principle and grammatical usage of the words.
That being said... I would ask the question. If a man disagrees with the bible who should be follow?
Logically anyone following truly will admit that we must follow the bible! The bible is the ultimate authority and anything that disagrees with it is just flat out wrong. I say this not to be rude but to simplify.
For everything we say, believe, or teach, we must have chapter and verse. Anything you hear ask, "Chapter and verse?"
If we do NOT have chapter and verse what we are saying should be automatically suspect.
There will always be issues that are not directly addressed in the bible but if you look hard enough most everything has a biblical principle that you can glean from scripture.
Ultimately the verse below is what I am trying to say in a much more complicated way....
Romans chapter 3 and the middle of verse 4 "let God be true, but every man a liar"
Let us test all things against the scripture and trust nothing that strays from the word of God. Question everything you do. This is how we grow.
Often times the things I write about are just as much for my benefit as for the benefit of others.
I would like to address the "Authority of the Scripture."
Without getting exceedingly in-depth, first I would like to point out that due to all bibles being a copy of a copy of a copy... and on top of that it is a modern translation of one language into another... there will always be issues of interpretation.
These issues must be solved by not isolating single scriptures. They must be compared to the bible as a whole and set side by side with parallels in scripture by principle and grammatical usage of the words.
That being said... I would ask the question. If a man disagrees with the bible who should be follow?
Logically anyone following truly will admit that we must follow the bible! The bible is the ultimate authority and anything that disagrees with it is just flat out wrong. I say this not to be rude but to simplify.
For everything we say, believe, or teach, we must have chapter and verse. Anything you hear ask, "Chapter and verse?"
If we do NOT have chapter and verse what we are saying should be automatically suspect.
There will always be issues that are not directly addressed in the bible but if you look hard enough most everything has a biblical principle that you can glean from scripture.
Ultimately the verse below is what I am trying to say in a much more complicated way....
Romans chapter 3 and the middle of verse 4 "let God be true, but every man a liar"
Let us test all things against the scripture and trust nothing that strays from the word of God. Question everything you do. This is how we grow.
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Inheritance of Lies (By Mike Hein)
Inheritance of Lies (By Mike Hein)
Jer. 16:19 “O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our
fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.” So what are these lies that we have inherited, what areas of life do they affect, how much do they affect our
lives and do they have eternal consequences? These are just a few questions that can be asked about these lies but before addressing the questions some back ground needs to be laid.
In Eph. 6:12 Paul writes, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places.” In Isa. 14:13&14, (speaking of Satan) “For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit
also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” From these verses we can see that the
issues in life are always spiritual, even though they have physical ramifications as well. Understanding this reality will help make sense of the events of life. Satan is our enemy and
wants to cause as much death and destruction as possible. He wants to rule, not for the purpose of preservation but destruction. This process, though proceeding predominately in the
spiritual realms manifests itself in the physical world. In this process I believe that there are three main things that Satan hates above all else. He hates people holding the knowledge
of God as creator, he hates the law of God and he hates the children of Israel.
If Satan can destroy the idea of God as creator then he can offer an alternative to how we got here, I.e. evolution. When it becomes accepted that we came into existence without God
then God no longer has claim on us nor does He have the right to put restrictions on our behavior and if He exists at all He would simply be another being that has evolved as we have.
In addition creation is the foundation on which the gospel rests, if God did not create as he stated then the gospel falls apart.
When it comes to the law it is what God used to bring people to Christ because it shows man his need for a savior. In Gal. 3:24 it says, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to
bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” It has been preached for centuries now that Christ did away with the law and we don’t need it any more. But I would submit
that this is Satan’s way to destroy the path that leads to Christ. Knowledge of sin comes from the law and with out knowing our lost and sinful condition we cannot know our need for a
Savior.
When it comes to Israel, they are the crown jewel in God’s plan. Paul, in Rom. 11:12 says, “Now if the fall of them (Israel) be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them
the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness?” We can see that the gospel going to the gentile world was of incalculable benefit and Paul, through his question indicates that
when Israel finally acknowledges their Messiah the benefit to the world will be much greater, and this is why Satan has and will continue trying to destroy Israel.
So the lies that we have inherited fall into basically two categories. The first is the attempt to keep people from believing in God through evolution and the second is confusion
within Christianity. This confusion comes from all sorts of areas including evolution but it all works to make Christians ineffective and even keep some from entering the Kingdom.
Evolution is considered by most to be scientific and a theory but we will look critically at these two claims. The definition of science is “knowledge gained by observation. When it
comes to evolution, life beginning from non-life has never been observed, one specie changing into another has never been observed so the core requirements of evolution are unscientific.
Darwin, in his trip to the Galapagos Islands
observed finches with different sizes and shapes of beaks but did not see any of them change. He hypothesized ways that they could have changed but could never test his hypothesis because
it involved millions of years. The scientific procedure starts with an observation, then an hypothesis, both of which Darwin did, but then follows with experimentation, peer review and the
hypothesis not being disproved over a period of time can become a theory, none of which happened in the case of evolution. But lets not quibble over that, the big issue is that there is
no scientific evidence to support evolution. All the so called support is little more than stories trying to explain how the things in the present got here. The fallacy of this process
is that what happened in the past was never observed and is outside the reach of science. Science is a wonderful tool but it is also limited to the present. It cannot deal with the past
nor can it deal with unique events. Science is built on the repeatable test therefore if you cannot repeat an event you cannot address it from a scientific position. The events that are
said to have caused the evolution of the present world cannot be repeated, making them unique events and were not observed or tested.
The radiometric dating methods are all based on assumptions about the past and when used to date the same rock always give different ages, some times ranging into the millions of years.
The assumptions are, consistency of decay rate, original ratio of parent to daughter material and no contamination or interference with the process over the billions or millions of years.
Most people are unaware though that there are actually hundreds of dating methods that can be used. The accumulation of different elements in the oceans, sedimentation of the oceans,
erosion of the mountains, shrinkage of the sun, decay of the earth’s rotational speed and it’s magnetic field and the recession of the moon just to name a few. All of these other dating
methods give vastly different ages for the earth but all are also based on assumptions about the past. However these cannot be discounted simply because they differ from the radiometric
methods, they are all equally valid. What they show is that we cannot address the past with science because it is outside of the capabilities of science unless we can recreate the event.
In addition there are 6 categories of evolution; cosmic, chemical, stellar, organic, macro and micro. Micro evolution is not really evolution but variation within a “kind“. This is an
observable event and has been used by man to produce different types of plants and animals for centuries but it will never produce a different “kind” of plant or animal. However it is the
thing most often pointed to as evidence of and support for evolution.
When it comes to the confusion within Christianity most of it has to do with the law of Moses or the Old Testament. One of the most prominent lies in this area is about which day is
the Sabbath. Most modern Christian believes that the early church, I.e. the apostles, changed the Sabbath from the 7th day to the 1st day in honor of the Lords resurrection. But this is
not the case and most Bible scholar will admit that there is no place in the New Testament that would indicate that the Sabbath was changed by the apostles. (The Sabbath command is a law
of God and it is important to know that there is one who “thinks to change times and laws”, from Daniel 7:24&25 and it is the Beast power of the end times.) In addition the Bible never
says that Jesus rose on the 1st day of the week, when the women came to the tomb He was already risen but the time of His rising is never indicated. The Sabbath was not changed until the
Catholic Church came on to the scene and they indicate in there own writings that they changed the Sabbath because they felt that they had the power and authority to do so. The Catholic
Church is also the initiator of several of the lies present in the Church today. Constantine, who started the Catholic Church was a “sun god” worshiper and he introduced several sun god
worship practices into the Catholic religion, Sunday Sabbath being one of them. The Sabbath is a memorial and the day on which we observe it indicates which God/god we are memorializing.
In Exo. 31:13&17, God tells Israel that the Sabbath is a sign between them and Himself, “Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a
sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you. (17) It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in
six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” At this point one could argue, “but that was for Israel”. In Rom. 11:11-27, Paul describes
the gentiles are equivalent to a wild olive and Israel the good olive tree and if we are to have life we must be grafted in to the root of Israel, vs. 17, “And if some of the branches be
broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;” vs. 24, “For if thou were cut out of the
olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive
tree?” Further more Paul in Rom. 2:28&29 says, “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one
inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.” Paul makes it clear by these two passages that in order to
inherit life we must be grafted into Israel, we must become Israel. This idea of becoming Israel is contrary to the standard Christian thought, for the modern Christian it is just the
opposite, Israel must become Christian. While it is true that Israel must become Christian it is not the Christianity of the modern Christian Church which ignores the law of God. Paul
through out the book of Romans repeatedly warns us against ignoring the law and sinning as if to make grace abound and we know from 1 John 3:4 that sin is transgression of the law. When
we ignore the law we no longer know what behavior is and is not acceptable to God. In Matt. 7:21-23 Jesus said, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven; …Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will
I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” In the most straight forward translation of the word, “iniquity” it would read, “depart from me, ye who are
without law.” and this law is specifically the Mosaic law. More over, Paul in Rom. 2:13 says, “(For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.)” In these scriptures we see the importance of living in obedience even though we are not saved by works of the law, the law is still God’s standard of acceptable behavior. Some go
as far to say that we can do anything we want because we are under grace, adopting life styles that are strictly forbidden by God, living in any sort of sin and depravity they desire all
the while thinking that they shall be saved. It is also important to realize that it is God’s law not Church doctrine that we are to obey. So if one does argue that the 7th day Sabbath
is for Israel they would be correct but who then is Israel? Israel is the ones who are grafted in and are circumcised in heart and then we will love the things God loves and hate the
things that He says are abominations to Him, (see Lev. 18:24-30, Deut. 12:29-32, & Deut. 18:9-14). We know that forsaking His law and adopting pagan practices is an abomination and we know
that He loves His Sabbaths. So if we want to inherit the Kingdom of God and eternal life we must come into Israel, for only Israel can enter the Kingdom but all are welcome to enter in.
Some have argued that we cannot know which day is the Sabbath because we don’t know if the days of the week have ever been messed up so the day God rested may not be the 7th day anymore
, so it doesn’t matter which day we observe. However, this is a straw man argument because it is the pattern that is important. If, and we do, follow a seven day week we will always have
a first day of the week so we can then count to seven and find the Sabbath.
The argument against the law in general has been made by saying that Jesus did away with the law because He fulfilled the law so we don’t need it any more. (Here I will restate that it
is important to know that there is one who “thinks to change times and laws”, from Daniel 7:24&25 and it is the Beast power of the end times.) However all that is necessary to debunk
this idea is to look up the definition of the word “fulfill”. Fulfill means “to bring into it’s full effect”, a synonym used in the definition is “to make manifest” which means to “remove
obscurities“. So if we understand our own language we can easily see that the idea that Jesus did away with the law is also an inherited lie. Jesus came to remove obscurities from the
law so we could understand it and He came to “be” the full effect of the law. Consider Deut. 12:32, “What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor
diminish from it.” If Jesus was sinless, which He was, and sin is transgression of the law, (1 Jn. 3:4), would He have added to or diminished from the law? Would He have changed the law?
Could He have changed the law and NOT been a false prophet? If He had added, diminished or changed the law He would have been in disobedience and sin. He could not be the Lamb that
takes away the sin of the world.
When one comes to the place of accepting the fact that Jesus did not do away with the law the most important step has been taken. However, because there is so much paganism
woven into the fabric of Christianity it can take a lot of time and effort to weed it out. Things such as Christmas and Easter, which have nothing to do with Jesus were both pagan holidays
(of different names) long before Jesus was born. In general the holidays held by the Catholic and Protestant churches are all of pagan origins. Another issue caused by being divorced
from the law is that our thinking is based on the wrong foundation. Even when we think we have Biblical support for the things we do it is most often wrong because our understanding of
the scripture comes from a pagan perspective.
When God lead the children of Israel out of Egypt to Sinai what culture did they have? The answer is, not one that God held acceptable. In the giving of the law at Sinai God essentially created the Hebrew culture. I use “Hebrew” because the root from which it comes means “to cross over”. Abraham “crossed over” when he left his home country and God was calling
Abraham’s descendants to “cross over” from paganism into a Godly culture. The law given at Sinai governed every aspect of the Hebrew’s life, social, moral and religious. There is no other
culture that has been created by God so it should be clear which set of rules we should be following. Further more in Rev. 21, we see that there are 12 gates in walls of the New Jerusalem
which are named after the 12 tribes of Israel,
there is not a gentile gate.
Some of the things that have been dealt with are not direct lies that have been inherited but rather the foundational principles which proper understanding must be based on. These
lies can affect every area of our lives and do indeed have eternal consequences. Scripture shows that those who do not have the law are in very great danger of being disqualified from the
Kingdom regardless of the works they have done during there life time, (Matt. 7:21-23). Prayerful consideration of one’s own life practices and greater knowledge and proper understanding
of scripture will reveal the areas which need to be brought into line with Biblical principles. The straight and narrow way is not a path traveled in one step but takes a life time to
travel and that process must bring us daily into greater harmony with the will of God, loving and hating those things which He loves and hates.
Jer. 16:19 “O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our
fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.” So what are these lies that we have inherited, what areas of life do they affect, how much do they affect our
lives and do they have eternal consequences? These are just a few questions that can be asked about these lies but before addressing the questions some back ground needs to be laid.
In Eph. 6:12 Paul writes, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places.” In Isa. 14:13&14, (speaking of Satan) “For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit
also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” From these verses we can see that the
issues in life are always spiritual, even though they have physical ramifications as well. Understanding this reality will help make sense of the events of life. Satan is our enemy and
wants to cause as much death and destruction as possible. He wants to rule, not for the purpose of preservation but destruction. This process, though proceeding predominately in the
spiritual realms manifests itself in the physical world. In this process I believe that there are three main things that Satan hates above all else. He hates people holding the knowledge
of God as creator, he hates the law of God and he hates the children of Israel.
If Satan can destroy the idea of God as creator then he can offer an alternative to how we got here, I.e. evolution. When it becomes accepted that we came into existence without God
then God no longer has claim on us nor does He have the right to put restrictions on our behavior and if He exists at all He would simply be another being that has evolved as we have.
In addition creation is the foundation on which the gospel rests, if God did not create as he stated then the gospel falls apart.
When it comes to the law it is what God used to bring people to Christ because it shows man his need for a savior. In Gal. 3:24 it says, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to
bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” It has been preached for centuries now that Christ did away with the law and we don’t need it any more. But I would submit
that this is Satan’s way to destroy the path that leads to Christ. Knowledge of sin comes from the law and with out knowing our lost and sinful condition we cannot know our need for a
Savior.
When it comes to Israel, they are the crown jewel in God’s plan. Paul, in Rom. 11:12 says, “Now if the fall of them (Israel) be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them
the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness?” We can see that the gospel going to the gentile world was of incalculable benefit and Paul, through his question indicates that
when Israel finally acknowledges their Messiah the benefit to the world will be much greater, and this is why Satan has and will continue trying to destroy Israel.
So the lies that we have inherited fall into basically two categories. The first is the attempt to keep people from believing in God through evolution and the second is confusion
within Christianity. This confusion comes from all sorts of areas including evolution but it all works to make Christians ineffective and even keep some from entering the Kingdom.
Evolution is considered by most to be scientific and a theory but we will look critically at these two claims. The definition of science is “knowledge gained by observation. When it
comes to evolution, life beginning from non-life has never been observed, one specie changing into another has never been observed so the core requirements of evolution are unscientific.
Darwin, in his trip to the Galapagos Islands
observed finches with different sizes and shapes of beaks but did not see any of them change. He hypothesized ways that they could have changed but could never test his hypothesis because
it involved millions of years. The scientific procedure starts with an observation, then an hypothesis, both of which Darwin did, but then follows with experimentation, peer review and the
hypothesis not being disproved over a period of time can become a theory, none of which happened in the case of evolution. But lets not quibble over that, the big issue is that there is
no scientific evidence to support evolution. All the so called support is little more than stories trying to explain how the things in the present got here. The fallacy of this process
is that what happened in the past was never observed and is outside the reach of science. Science is a wonderful tool but it is also limited to the present. It cannot deal with the past
nor can it deal with unique events. Science is built on the repeatable test therefore if you cannot repeat an event you cannot address it from a scientific position. The events that are
said to have caused the evolution of the present world cannot be repeated, making them unique events and were not observed or tested.
The radiometric dating methods are all based on assumptions about the past and when used to date the same rock always give different ages, some times ranging into the millions of years.
The assumptions are, consistency of decay rate, original ratio of parent to daughter material and no contamination or interference with the process over the billions or millions of years.
Most people are unaware though that there are actually hundreds of dating methods that can be used. The accumulation of different elements in the oceans, sedimentation of the oceans,
erosion of the mountains, shrinkage of the sun, decay of the earth’s rotational speed and it’s magnetic field and the recession of the moon just to name a few. All of these other dating
methods give vastly different ages for the earth but all are also based on assumptions about the past. However these cannot be discounted simply because they differ from the radiometric
methods, they are all equally valid. What they show is that we cannot address the past with science because it is outside of the capabilities of science unless we can recreate the event.
In addition there are 6 categories of evolution; cosmic, chemical, stellar, organic, macro and micro. Micro evolution is not really evolution but variation within a “kind“. This is an
observable event and has been used by man to produce different types of plants and animals for centuries but it will never produce a different “kind” of plant or animal. However it is the
thing most often pointed to as evidence of and support for evolution.
When it comes to the confusion within Christianity most of it has to do with the law of Moses or the Old Testament. One of the most prominent lies in this area is about which day is
the Sabbath. Most modern Christian believes that the early church, I.e. the apostles, changed the Sabbath from the 7th day to the 1st day in honor of the Lords resurrection. But this is
not the case and most Bible scholar will admit that there is no place in the New Testament that would indicate that the Sabbath was changed by the apostles. (The Sabbath command is a law
of God and it is important to know that there is one who “thinks to change times and laws”, from Daniel 7:24&25 and it is the Beast power of the end times.) In addition the Bible never
says that Jesus rose on the 1st day of the week, when the women came to the tomb He was already risen but the time of His rising is never indicated. The Sabbath was not changed until the
Catholic Church came on to the scene and they indicate in there own writings that they changed the Sabbath because they felt that they had the power and authority to do so. The Catholic
Church is also the initiator of several of the lies present in the Church today. Constantine, who started the Catholic Church was a “sun god” worshiper and he introduced several sun god
worship practices into the Catholic religion, Sunday Sabbath being one of them. The Sabbath is a memorial and the day on which we observe it indicates which God/god we are memorializing.
In Exo. 31:13&17, God tells Israel that the Sabbath is a sign between them and Himself, “Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a
sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you. (17) It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in
six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” At this point one could argue, “but that was for Israel”. In Rom. 11:11-27, Paul describes
the gentiles are equivalent to a wild olive and Israel the good olive tree and if we are to have life we must be grafted in to the root of Israel, vs. 17, “And if some of the branches be
broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;” vs. 24, “For if thou were cut out of the
olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive
tree?” Further more Paul in Rom. 2:28&29 says, “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one
inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.” Paul makes it clear by these two passages that in order to
inherit life we must be grafted into Israel, we must become Israel. This idea of becoming Israel is contrary to the standard Christian thought, for the modern Christian it is just the
opposite, Israel must become Christian. While it is true that Israel must become Christian it is not the Christianity of the modern Christian Church which ignores the law of God. Paul
through out the book of Romans repeatedly warns us against ignoring the law and sinning as if to make grace abound and we know from 1 John 3:4 that sin is transgression of the law. When
we ignore the law we no longer know what behavior is and is not acceptable to God. In Matt. 7:21-23 Jesus said, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven; …Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will
I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” In the most straight forward translation of the word, “iniquity” it would read, “depart from me, ye who are
without law.” and this law is specifically the Mosaic law. More over, Paul in Rom. 2:13 says, “(For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.)” In these scriptures we see the importance of living in obedience even though we are not saved by works of the law, the law is still God’s standard of acceptable behavior. Some go
as far to say that we can do anything we want because we are under grace, adopting life styles that are strictly forbidden by God, living in any sort of sin and depravity they desire all
the while thinking that they shall be saved. It is also important to realize that it is God’s law not Church doctrine that we are to obey. So if one does argue that the 7th day Sabbath
is for Israel they would be correct but who then is Israel? Israel is the ones who are grafted in and are circumcised in heart and then we will love the things God loves and hate the
things that He says are abominations to Him, (see Lev. 18:24-30, Deut. 12:29-32, & Deut. 18:9-14). We know that forsaking His law and adopting pagan practices is an abomination and we know
that He loves His Sabbaths. So if we want to inherit the Kingdom of God and eternal life we must come into Israel, for only Israel can enter the Kingdom but all are welcome to enter in.
Some have argued that we cannot know which day is the Sabbath because we don’t know if the days of the week have ever been messed up so the day God rested may not be the 7th day anymore
, so it doesn’t matter which day we observe. However, this is a straw man argument because it is the pattern that is important. If, and we do, follow a seven day week we will always have
a first day of the week so we can then count to seven and find the Sabbath.
The argument against the law in general has been made by saying that Jesus did away with the law because He fulfilled the law so we don’t need it any more. (Here I will restate that it
is important to know that there is one who “thinks to change times and laws”, from Daniel 7:24&25 and it is the Beast power of the end times.) However all that is necessary to debunk
this idea is to look up the definition of the word “fulfill”. Fulfill means “to bring into it’s full effect”, a synonym used in the definition is “to make manifest” which means to “remove
obscurities“. So if we understand our own language we can easily see that the idea that Jesus did away with the law is also an inherited lie. Jesus came to remove obscurities from the
law so we could understand it and He came to “be” the full effect of the law. Consider Deut. 12:32, “What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor
diminish from it.” If Jesus was sinless, which He was, and sin is transgression of the law, (1 Jn. 3:4), would He have added to or diminished from the law? Would He have changed the law?
Could He have changed the law and NOT been a false prophet? If He had added, diminished or changed the law He would have been in disobedience and sin. He could not be the Lamb that
takes away the sin of the world.
When one comes to the place of accepting the fact that Jesus did not do away with the law the most important step has been taken. However, because there is so much paganism
woven into the fabric of Christianity it can take a lot of time and effort to weed it out. Things such as Christmas and Easter, which have nothing to do with Jesus were both pagan holidays
(of different names) long before Jesus was born. In general the holidays held by the Catholic and Protestant churches are all of pagan origins. Another issue caused by being divorced
from the law is that our thinking is based on the wrong foundation. Even when we think we have Biblical support for the things we do it is most often wrong because our understanding of
the scripture comes from a pagan perspective.
When God lead the children of Israel out of Egypt to Sinai what culture did they have? The answer is, not one that God held acceptable. In the giving of the law at Sinai God essentially created the Hebrew culture. I use “Hebrew” because the root from which it comes means “to cross over”. Abraham “crossed over” when he left his home country and God was calling
Abraham’s descendants to “cross over” from paganism into a Godly culture. The law given at Sinai governed every aspect of the Hebrew’s life, social, moral and religious. There is no other
culture that has been created by God so it should be clear which set of rules we should be following. Further more in Rev. 21, we see that there are 12 gates in walls of the New Jerusalem
which are named after the 12 tribes of Israel,
there is not a gentile gate.
Some of the things that have been dealt with are not direct lies that have been inherited but rather the foundational principles which proper understanding must be based on. These
lies can affect every area of our lives and do indeed have eternal consequences. Scripture shows that those who do not have the law are in very great danger of being disqualified from the
Kingdom regardless of the works they have done during there life time, (Matt. 7:21-23). Prayerful consideration of one’s own life practices and greater knowledge and proper understanding
of scripture will reveal the areas which need to be brought into line with Biblical principles. The straight and narrow way is not a path traveled in one step but takes a life time to
travel and that process must bring us daily into greater harmony with the will of God, loving and hating those things which He loves and hates.
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Meditation...a tool or Taboo?
In our culture today the word Meditation has been dressed with colors from almost every religion known to man. The new age movement and many occult circles use high amounts of meditation and thus it has become a taboo in some Christian circles.
The Bible, however, has at least 40+ verses about meditation. So the question becomes what IS meditation.
Much of the occult meditation tells you to "empty your mind." They want your mind unguarded, open, and they want you to allow anything in that wants to enter.
Is this what the Bible talks about when it speaks of meditation?
When verses tell you to meditate on the word of God night and day... that is hardly emptying your mind. Biblical meditation is filling your mind and focusing your mind with a biblical principle, with God and His laws.
When Christians fail to properly fill a role (such as meditating on the word of God) Satan will offer a counterfeit.
Meditate simply means to ponder, consider, or think about. The enemy has us all running around ragged like chickens with our heads cut off... always busy, always with something to do... we have little time to contemplate the ways of God. In addition to this, after such a busy involved stretch of time the idea of "emptying our mind" sounds rather inviting. The danger is, if we empty our minds and lower our defenses... allow anything in that wants to come in... that gives Satan and his demons an open door.
If we fill our mind with scripture Satan and his demons can NOT enter. When Messiah is inside us, evil can not take root. (unless we give a foothold)
So, while meditation is very dangerous if taken out of context, biblical meditation (contemplation on scriptures and the ways of God) can actually make our lives much easier and grow us closer to the Lord.
So my challenge to all reading this would be...
SLOW DOWN! Take some time for God. Take time to talk, take time to listen (very important) take time to contemplate scriptures. You need your quiet time with God, and He enjoys that time and will bless you through it.
The Bible, however, has at least 40+ verses about meditation. So the question becomes what IS meditation.
Much of the occult meditation tells you to "empty your mind." They want your mind unguarded, open, and they want you to allow anything in that wants to enter.
Is this what the Bible talks about when it speaks of meditation?
When verses tell you to meditate on the word of God night and day... that is hardly emptying your mind. Biblical meditation is filling your mind and focusing your mind with a biblical principle, with God and His laws.
When Christians fail to properly fill a role (such as meditating on the word of God) Satan will offer a counterfeit.
Meditate simply means to ponder, consider, or think about. The enemy has us all running around ragged like chickens with our heads cut off... always busy, always with something to do... we have little time to contemplate the ways of God. In addition to this, after such a busy involved stretch of time the idea of "emptying our mind" sounds rather inviting. The danger is, if we empty our minds and lower our defenses... allow anything in that wants to come in... that gives Satan and his demons an open door.
If we fill our mind with scripture Satan and his demons can NOT enter. When Messiah is inside us, evil can not take root. (unless we give a foothold)
So, while meditation is very dangerous if taken out of context, biblical meditation (contemplation on scriptures and the ways of God) can actually make our lives much easier and grow us closer to the Lord.
So my challenge to all reading this would be...
SLOW DOWN! Take some time for God. Take time to talk, take time to listen (very important) take time to contemplate scriptures. You need your quiet time with God, and He enjoys that time and will bless you through it.
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