Diabolical Doctrines

Diabolical Doctrines: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

14) Salvation is possible in this life only

15) Those who don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ will be fearfully and forever tormented, without end

16) There are many ways to God

17) Christmas is a holy, God-ordained celebration

18) Easter is Christian and Biblical

19) God is trying to save the whole world now

20) Man has been given a free will

21) Now we are in the dispensation of grace, not Law

22) Denominations are legitimate in the sight of God

23) There is no literal, personal voice of God speaking today as in Biblical times

24) All believers have equal authority and status

25) Women are ordained or called as ministers of God, in spiritual authority over men

26) All flesh is clean for eating

Diabolical Doctrine 14) Salvation is possible in this life only

Is there any Scriptural evidence that one has only this lifetime to come into harmony with God? Would God damn forever someone who has never heard of the Lord Jesus Christ, having never been given opportunity to believe? Nowhere do the Scriptures support this doctrine. Indeed, they cry out against it.

Did not Jesus preach to the spirits in prison, who perished in Noah’s day during the Flood (1 Peter 3:18-22)?

Did He not stop Saul of Tarsus dead in his tracks to convert him? If it was so important to convert everyone now, why doesn’t Jesus stop many more? One may answer that He saw Saul’s heart. But doesn’t that attribute righteousness to man and not entirely to God, contrary to the Scriptures, which declare man has no righteousness? Why doesn’t He stop and turn everyone now?

Why would Cain receive a mark of protection in this world, only to perish at death? Does God toy with lives, as cats do with mice?

Why would Ishmael be given twelve princes and blessings for this life, only to end his somewhat favorable existence by being relegated to eternal torment immediately upon death?

Didn’t Ishmael and Isaac together bury their father, Abraham (Genesis 25:9)? If God’s eternal wrath was on Ishmael, what did he have to do with Abraham and his chosen son, Isaac?

Or is Ishmael more righteous than God, honoring his father while God plans to torment Ishmael with perpetual pain?

And what of Abraham, who cared for Ishmael (“O that Ishmael might live before You!” - Genesis 17:8)? God cares less than Abraham? We know that’s not true!

How is it Esau was also blessed? What for - a brief stint on earth? And then what?

Stop and think, people, consider and pray - not to yourselves or to your imaginary gods, even those you call “Jesus,” but to the Spirit of Truth Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Here is a passage of Scripture used to support this evil doctrine:

“And as it is appointed to men once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. And to those who look for Him He shall appear the second time without sin to salvation” (Hebrews 9:27-28 MKJV).

Nothing says here that judgment is eternal (or even temporary) damnation.

The word “judgment” only means a decision, for or against. Because it says men die only once in this world, can one suppose that there isn’t another world in which men may have occasion to believe, as in the case of the souls who perished in the Flood?

1 Peter 3:18-22 MKJV
(18) For Christ also once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, indeed being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit;
(19) in which also He went and preached to the spirits in prison,
(20) to disobeying ones, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the Ark was being prepared (in which a few, that is, eight souls were saved through water);
(21) which figure now also saves us, baptism; not a putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ;
(22) Who is at the right hand of God, having gone into Heaven, where the angels and authorities and powers are being subjected to Him.

The fact that men die once in this world doesn’t mean they have no future opportunities to be saved. Nothing in the Bible indicates this diabolical notion of hopelessness.

It has always been a marvel to me how people can profess to believe this doctrine and profess to love their neighbor and fellow mankind in general, yet they don’t do all they possibly can to save them. Indeed, they do virtually nothing; they go out on all sorts of business ventures, pursue pleasures, watch television, go to socials, and spend time on myriads of things worth far less than just one soul, which is worth more than the whole world and for which nothing can be given in exchange.

If they believe the devilish doctrine they espouse, and that it’s up to Christians to win other souls to Christ, having only this life in which to be saved, then they are guilty of the worst possible crimes imaginable. Hitler is a shining light compared to them. Either they don’t really believe this doctrine, but use and vocalize it for their own purposes, as hypocrites, or they don’t love their neighbor as themselves, contrary to their show and profession. It’s that simple. If they don’t love their neighbor, they’re damned. Would they like that damnation to be permanent?

If I believed this doctrine, I shouldn’t have a television set, a newspaper, or a single moment to spare on any kind of activity or object that isn’t of as much importance as rescuing a perishing soul. I shouldn’t marry and have children. I shouldn’t have a home, a lawn, or any time-consuming thing that wasn’t of paramount necessity.

I shouldn’t trouble myself about clothing, shaving, grooming, preparing food, brushing my teeth, or many other things we all do, except to ready myself for soul-winning. My activities and attentions apart from winning souls should be cut to the bone. But I don’t believe this doctrine.

If souls could only be saved in this life, then all those who believe this doctrine are damned. Perhaps there may be someone out there who’s trying everything he can to save as many as possible, poor wretch! But what if he had only slept 20 minutes less each night? Could he have delivered another soul from eternal torment?

What if he hadn’t had small, fruitless talk with someone, wasting precious time? One too few souls saved is more than a pure conscience could bear. “If only I had...” would be his constant torment. He would be damned in a way not commonly considered. The doctrine is ludicrous.

Now if you call me diabolical because I teach against this doctrine, not believing it, yet you don’t act according to your belief of this doctrine, then in God’s sight I’m more justified than are you who condemn me. Interesting?

No, people, this life, age, world is but a stage of many in God’s process of creating man in His image. We have a great God, much greater than we imagine in the narrow window of this world.

“So that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:7 MKJV).

Consider the alternative to believing this doctrine: Believing the truth, you’ll no longer be guilty of criminal negligence of the highest order, and you won’t be impossibly burdened.

Read in our section The Restitution of All Things.

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Diabolical Doctrine 15) Those who don’t believe in the Lord Jesus Christ will be fearfully and forever tormented, without end

A mother who professed to believe in Christ and defended the doctrine of eternal torment once stood with her children, watching a cat play with a mouse before it devoured the rodent. She couldn’t stand to watch, so she took her children and retreated to the house.

What was this mouse to them? It was only a disease-bearing pest which, if having opportunity, would contaminate food stores, crops, and drinking water, which reportedly it did with them. Yet in their carnality, they had sympathy for that mouse.

“That cat was cruel!” she remarked. Really? How cruel was that mouse’s fate compared to a human doomed to everlasting torment, as she alleged would happen?

Consider that the cat probably had the mouse in shock, so that it felt no pain – a provision of God in nature for the mouse’s benefit. Consider that the cat devoured the mouse to sustain itself, not to forever torment it.

Jesus constantly used elements and events in nature to teach spiritual truth. Where do we find eternal torment taught in any of God’s creation? We don’t. What good would there be in tormenting a soul forever?

Consider that the mouse couldn’t reason or feel guilt or regret, as we can. Yet the purveyors of this doctrine of devils combine mental anguish with horrific physical pain for those most unfortunate souls who didn’t seem quite as wise in their choice of life.

Consider that the mouse wasn’t made in God’s image and, like sparrows (Luke 12:6-7) and grass (Isaiah 40:8), had so little value compared to a human being.

Consider that the mouse didn’t have the torment of lost loved ones it would miss or which would miss it. Furthermore, the mouse didn’t have loved ones chosen to have the cat’s favor, ecstatically enjoying company with the cat, while watching the mouse being tormented and eaten, yet never devoured.

Finally, the cat wasn’t the all-loving being that God is taught to be and of which the Scriptures bear witness. When did a cat ever lay down its life for all mice?

How can we so foolishly and ignorantly believe an all-loving God would take those who didn’t believe on Jesus Christ in this life and damn them to horrific torment forever? How should we believe He would even equip them with a special body to suffer destruction and immense pain forever, yet never be destroyed? All this for the sole purpose of making them continually suffer?

According to this atrocious doctrine, a trillion years from now, the damned will continue to scream and writhe in terrible agony with no respite, the torment only beginning. In the meantime, the One Who laid down His life for them, and then put them in those circumstances, is at rest with His beloved, enjoying fellowship with them and they with Him. The friends and relatives who didn’t believe are forever imprisoned in constant horrible agony, but that doesn’t seem to bother either the One Who gave Himself to put away suffering and to wipe away all tears, or the ones whose tears have been wiped away. You can just hear them singing the hymn, “Joy Unspeakable and Full of Glory,” drowning out the shrieks of their wretched husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters who didn’t believe.

The unbelieving will forever suffer, and for what? Will they ever believe? No. The saved can sit there licking their ice cream cones, saying, “We told you so! See, we weren’t as stupid as you thought! We’re good and you’re bad.” And God will say to those suffering, “You didn’t believe Me! You had your chance. Now eat your hearts out - forever.”

What good could possibly be served by souls forever suffering excruciating pain? Would that not make agonizing punishment the Omega, instead of Jesus Christ, the Alpha and Omega (Revelation 1:8)? Is it not in God’s power to mercifully put a suffering creature out of its misery? Can He not take life, as well as give it?

Would God enjoy Himself with others, and they with Him, while others suffer so? What kind of horrid disposition would do that? In our God-given nature, even a fallen lawless one, we cringe at the thought of rulers who, without conscience or feeling, impose their cruel wills on people who are possibly guilty of unspeakable crimes. Yet many are found preaching a God Who far surpasses the cruelty of all the worst of men that ever lived on earth combined, while calling Him a God of compassion.

Jesus once said, “If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to them that ask?” (Matthew 7:11) If this woman, being evil, can’t handle a beast’s temporary, tempered torment in the present order of things, how would the Father in Heaven, being good, be willing to forever preside, with His children, over the eternal torment of persons once created in His image?

And He doesn’t even eat them after they’re toasted! How utterly diabolical a doctrine this is! This doctrine was concocted by Satan, who savors the things of men, to paralyze souls with fear. It isn’t through fear of evil we’re saved, however, but by God’s loving grace through faith. It isn’t by the driving of men, but by the drawing of the Father that we enter the Kingdom of God.

At Harvest Haven, we raise sheep. Drive them, and they’re frightened; lead them, and they follow. When they’re frightened, they don’t go where they need to go. Fear-mongering doctrines ought to sound the alarm that there’s something amiss.

Yes, the KJV says there’s torment in the Lake of Fire forever and ever. If you search the Scriptures, however, you’ll find “forever” doesn’t mean “forever,” the way we use the word (read The True, Scriptural Meanings of “Forever,” “Everlasting,” and “Hell”).

Example:

“As Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, in like manner to these, committing fornication, and going away after other flesh, laid down an example before-times, undergoing vengeance of everlasting fire” (Jude 1:7 MKJV).

Yet God promises to return Sodom to a former state of prosperity, along with whoring Israel:

Ezekiel 16:53-55 MKJV
(53) When I shall return their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then also the captivity of your captivity in their midst;
(54) that you may bear your shame, and blush in all that you have done, since you are a comfort to them.
(55) When your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former state, then you and your daughters shall return to your former state.

Obviously God doesn’t mean “forever” or “everlasting” as carnal men have interpreted His sayings.

Speaking of everlasting (eternal) fire, what is its purpose? Is it literal or figurative? And what does “eternal” mean?

The “Lake of Fire” is figurative, as is “fire” when it speaks of our being baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Not that a spiritual fire is any less powerful and painful than a literal one, but it is a fire that corrects, purges, and purifies, for a good end. It is not a fire that forever punishes for evil’s sake.

One hears this objection when answering the doctrine of eternal suffering: “Yes, God is love, but He’s also a just God, and we must pay the penalty for our sins if we don’t repent.”

Doesn’t the Bible say it’s God Who causes us to will and to do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13)? How can we claim any credit? Isn’t it by grace through faith that we’re saved, that faith not being of ourselves, but a gift of God (Ephesians 2:8-10)? Doesn’t that mean He gives faith freely to those who don’t deserve it?

Vindictive, petty, vicious, unspeakably cruel, and merciless creatures we are, making God into our own image. We play a tyrannical god in the lives of those we seek to control, by threatening them with the worst possible consequences if they don’t comply with our will. That’s what sin does to our thinking and attitude. But Jesus Christ isn’t like that:

“Jesus called them and said to them, ‘You know that they who are accounted rulers over the nations exercise lordship over them. And their great ones exercise authority on them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever desires to be great among you, let him be your servant’” (Mark 10:42-43 MKJV).

Consider the alternative to believing this doctrine: Who knows? You may even come to love God if you repented and got to know Him as He is!

Read Whose Will Is Free?, and peruse our section The Restitution of All Things, especially The Great Promise of the Lake of Fire and the Second Death, The True, Scriptural Meanings of “Forever,” “Everlasting,” and “Hell”, and The State and Fate of Hell.

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Diabolical Doctrine 16) There are many ways to God

This doctrine is not often preached in nominal Christendom, but it seems a rather strange thing to find so many people professing to be Christians who believe this lie. Yet why should I be surprised to find such in the church systems, the gates of Hell? Isn’t it written, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird” (Revelation 18:2)?

Those who profess Christ should believe the words of the One they profess to believe:

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me’” (John 14:6 MKJV).

There’s only One Way to God:

“And He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore His own arm brought salvation to Him; and His righteousness sustained Him. For He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head. And He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was covered with zeal like a cloak” (Isaiah 59:16-17 MKJV).

It takes God to bring us to Him. Jesus Christ is God. Buddha is not; Krishna is not; Muhammad is not; neither is any other. Only God can lay down His life and take it up again. Only His tomb is empty, by His own power. There is no salvation outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, “No one comes to the Father but by Me.”

He said, “He that believes not on the Son is condemned” (Mark 16:16). There’s but one Only Begotten Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

He said to His disciples, “He that rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him Who sent Me” (Luke 10:16). That doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for competitors or other ways, does it?

According to Jesus, if someone said to one of His disciples, “No thanks, I prefer another way,” that man would be condemned as a thief and robber:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, ‘He who does not enter into the sheepfold by the door, but going up by another way, that one is a thief and a robber’” (John 10:1 MKJV).

John 10:7-11 MKJV
(7) Then Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, ‘I am the door of the sheep.
(8) All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
(9) I am the door. If anyone enters in by Me, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture.
(10) The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come so that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
(11) I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.’”

The people who believe there are many ways to God usually consent that Jesus was a wise and good man, wiser and better than themselves. They will even acknowledge Him to be a prophet. It should follow, then, that they ought to believe what He has to say and not be so stupid as to treat Him as a fool or liar.

And why do they consent that He was (notice the past tense) a wise and good man? It’s because they don’t believe. If they believed, they would know that He was no mere wise and good man, but is God, here and now:

“By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God; and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the anti-Christ you heard is coming, and even now is already in the world” (1 John 4:2-3 MKJV).

Consider the alternative to believing this doctrine: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you’ll see God.

Read The Narrow vs. the Wide Way and Broad Way Lover Despises Narrow Way. Also read about the False Teachers Oprah Winfrey and Her Guru, Eckhart Tolle.

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Diabolical Doctrine 17) Christmas is a Biblical Christian celebration

Wrong. It is a celebration, likely the greatest and most widespread the West and even the world has ever known; however, it is anything but holy unto God and has nothing whatsoever to do with the Lord Jesus Christ, in Whose Name it is celebrated. Christmas never did have anything to do with Him, and never will.

The Christmas Spirit

You may say, “Haven't you ever felt the spirit of Christmas? What's wrong with it? Doesn't it make you feel good about yourself and good toward others?”

No doubt, the Christmas spirit makes one feel good, as a seductress makes one feel good for a time. One can get very high on the Christmas spirit, but then comes the letdown when the event is over. It is a swift and seductive, friendly rape of one’s spiritual, mental, and physical emotions and aspirations.

Part of the proof of the falsehood of Christmas is that the high is short-lived and doesn’t substantially change anyone. Some may get friendly and generous for a day or two, then they’re back at it, in a dog-eat-dog world of business and relationships steeped in selfishness. It isn’t the Spirit of Christ at all that is felt at Christmas, but that of a seducing, counterfeit, anti-Christ spirit. Otherwise, if it were of God, why the shallowness and brevity?

The only way one can know what I’m talking about is if one is truly born again of the Spirit of God, in which case one is able to discern good from evil. When Christ comes, He establishes Himself and remains through our abiding in Him by faith and obedience 24/7, 365+ days a year. How is it you can only feel the spirit of Christmas, at Christmas? Because it’s from the side of darkness, in wonderful seduction, and has nothing to do with God. Don’t be deceived.

I also loved Christmas, and amazingly, shaking that celebration was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. It's hard being odd man out in anything, especially left out of joyous festivity with loved ones when you've been brought up with it from the cradle and enjoyed it for many years.

A Celebration of Giving?

People talk of giving at Christmas, which on the surface seems virtuous, and there’s an extraordinary amount of giving to family members, friends, employees, business associates, and the poor (perhaps in that order, which says something). But Christmas isn’t about giving, it’s about getting, or perhaps, to put it more comprehensively, about getting by giving. It’s a time of great selfishness, pleasing the flesh, which is at enmity with God.

“Johnny, if you're good, Santa will bring you a present.”

“We sent them a better card than they sent us, and they can afford it!”

“Isn't it time we got together at their place this time, instead of ours?”

The emphasis is constantly and insidiously on receiving, which opens the door to crass commercialism. After all, what is commercialism about, if not feeding the fleshly craving for getting things? And Christmas is the champion of consumptive celebrations, through which many retailers make or break their businesses.

Who is this great “giver” - Santa? He is whatever you make him out to be... an elf, a fairy, someone with magical powers who is obese and smokes, or a Catholic saint, St. Nicholas. As if the Catholic Church knows what a saint is and has the spiritual essence and right to honor one. The reality is that by its very nature the Catholic Church (along with many other churches) persecutes and opposes true saints to the death.

Christmas Minus Commercialism = Christ?

It is said Christmas would be good if not so commercialized. I ask, “So commercialized?” Can a truly holy celebration of God tolerate any commercialism? (Consider Jesus with the money-changers and sellers in the Temple – John 2:14-26.) If Christmas is full of revelry and indulgence, how do those vices exist without commercialism? With men, it is either worship of God or mammon - only two choices. Commercialism in the wide sense of the word is simply serving mammon in whatever form it takes.

Is Christmas Redeemable?

We hear the incessant call to get Christ back into Christmas. The fact of the matter is He was never in it. Trying to put Him in a pagan feast is abominable to God. There were solemn (not unrestrained merrymaking) Feasts ordained and established in the Israel of old by God’s command - Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles.

Observed in the first month of the year, the Feast of Passover represented Jesus’ death, His sacrifice for our sins. In the third month of the year, the Feast of Pentecost was held, representing the outpouring of His Spirit, which occurred 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Finally, in the seventh month, the Feast of Tabernacles was observed, representing our entering into rest and His manifestation through His people on earth. These all signified the great events and works of the Messiah on earth.

A celebration of His birth isn’t mentioned, and a date wasn’t given, as it was for the God-ordained Feasts. Consider how few knew of, and were present at, His birth (Matthew 2 and Luke 2). Shouldn't that suggest to you God wasn’t interested in having men commemorate it?

How different the original event of His birth and the alleged yearly celebration of it! The pagan religious world has devised all sorts of superstitious practices - the Christmas tree and its trimmings, the mistletoe, the Yule log, gift-giving, card-sending, caroling, pageants, church attendance (even at midnight), and various foods and significations for them, etc. - all in the Name of Christ (“Christmas”).

If Godly, How Come the World Loves Christmas?

Pleasure-seekers, calling themselves Christians or not, join right in. And nominal Christians justify themselves, saying, “It’s the thought that counts. We take the occasion to worship Christ, even if it is pagan.” Some use Paul’s words as an excuse, saying they are being all things to all men in order to reach unbelievers (1 Corinthians 9:19-22). But Paul isn’t speaking of joining the world to win it. The Bible never speaks of partaking of the world. On the contrary, it warns against it. You join the world and you lose yourself, if you have anything to lose to begin with.

God commands us to come out of the world and not to so much as touch the unclean thing (2 Corinthians 6:14-18). Use your excuses to keep your pleasures in the Name of Jesus, and be sure God will call you into account for every bit of it.

“God alone knows the heart,” you may object. Yes, He does, and you don't, so He sends us to tell you, if perchance you will listen and be spared.

The Origin of the Name of Christmas

The event itself is evil enough - of the world, the flesh, and the Devil - but putting the Name of Christ to it heaps sin upon sin. The word “Christmas” is from the Catholic pagan abomination of the Mass... “Christ Mass,” wherein the priest “offers up” the body and blood of Christ as a sacrifice to God, then serves it to the congregants. In effect, symbolically, those holding Mass continue to crucify Him, blatantly, publicly, presumptuously, hypocritically, universally, and proudly.

The origin of the central element of the Mass is a pagan one of Baal/sun god worship, holding up a wafer to receive life from the sun’s rays. And they attach Christ’s Name to this! Speak of Daniel’s abomination of desolation (Matthew 24:15)! And all the Protestants, who think they aren’t Catholic, follow and believe basically no different from the Catholics even if they don't hold Mass (many do).

Christmas the Birthday Celebration of the Anti-Christ

Here’s the kicker, people - Christmas is the birthday celebration not of the Christ, but of the anti-Christ. It all began centuries before Christ with Nimrod, his wife Semiramis, and Tammuz, at the winter solstice of the sun. That’s why Christmas is held on December 25th, a day all Biblical scholars agree was nowhere near to when Jesus Christ was born. Baal, the sun god, is anti-Christ’s common name, and he goes by many names throughout many nations, races, and cultures. I believe it was of these Jesus spoke when He said, “All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them” (John 10:8 MKJV).

Many Non-Catholic Christian Groups Err

How is it Protestants and evangelical, Bible-preaching Christians celebrate a pagan Catholic feast? Because the Reformation wasn’t new wine in new wineskins. It was a mixture of new substance in old containers, and old substance in new containers. The Lord warned us neither would work:

“And no one sews a patch of new cloth on an old garment, else it takes away from its fullness, the new from the old, and a worse tear occurs. No one puts new wine into old wineskins, else the new wine bursts the wineskins, and the wine spills, and the wineskins will be ruined. The new wine must be put into new wineskins” (Mark 2:21-22 MKJV).

To be sure, the tyrannical power of the Catholic Church was significantly diminished in the Reformation; we can be very thankful to God for that. Yet tyranny and confusion remain. All organized religious works of men exercise at least subtle tyranny over simple souls. The ignorant and idolatrous are bound by lies that affect their total lives whether they realize it or not. If they do see their lives affected, they are deceived, thinking it is for good.

Confusion lies in the fact that all the churches (many thousands today) stand there, saying, “We are the True Church or the closest to it,” yet are really no different from one another in basic doctrine, practice, and spirit. But God's work goes on unseen, unofficially, by unrecognized saints, and not by men's organizations called “Christian.” The prophets were outside the camp, Jesus was and is outside the camp, and so are all those who follow Him, heeding His voice, not the voice of strangers.

Consider the alternative to this doctrine: Where in the Bible does it command you to celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus and that on a date commemorating a heathen god? Will you not sever yourself from something abominable to God and reap reward? Flee revelry and idolatry!

For more on Christmas, read That Devilish Spirit of Christmas. You can also read Alexander Hislop’s Two Babylons, an interesting, if not shocking, fact-packed exposé on the “Holy Roman Catholic Church,” Mystery Babylon the Great. “Mystery” indeed.

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Diabolical Doctrine 18) Easter is Christian and Biblical

Wrong! While almost all nominal Christian churches celebrate Easter, why don't they stop to consider that the pagan goddess of fertility and love, Ishtar or Ashtoreth, has the preeminence here even in the name of the occasion - “Easter”? As with Christmas, carnal religious leaders long ago decided to bring the heathen into their fold by “Christianizing” their idolatrous worship practices, cleverly paralleling them to, and interweaving them with, Biblical events and practices.

But these “Christian” leaders also embraced sensual and ridiculous traditions. Celebrating fertility, “Christians” bless eggs, paint them up, introduce rabbits (prolific animals) who lay eggs and deliver them in “Ishtar baskets.” Catholics and others practice many such abominations in the Name of Christ.

Easter obscured the Biblical Jewish Feast of Passover, in which the lamb was slain by God's commandment, commemorating the time the children of Israel were delivered from Egypt. They were told to daub the blood on their doorframes, so that when the death angel of God passed through the land to slay every firstborn, the blood would exempt that household from the judgment, the angel “passing over.” The firstborn of Israelites were spared, the Egyptian firstborn weren’t, and there was great sorrow in Egypt, as you can well imagine.

The Passover lamb was to be sacrificed at the same time every year thereafter until Christ came, fifteen centuries later, in fulfillment of this solemn Feast. He was willingly slain on schedule, at Passover, being the Lamb the Feast was all about.

Do nominal Christians call it “Passover”? No, it's “Ishtar,” in honor of the seductive and fertile goddess with six breasts! Even the acclaimed Protestant King James Bible changed the name of the Passover feast to Easter.

At Easter, do they eat the Passover lamb representing the Lamb of God Who gives His life for mankind? They eat not the Passover lamb, but the Easter ham! In God's order of things, sheep were clean and swine unclean. Now we have unclean pigs gracing the tables of those for whom the Lamb of God died, essentially making Him a pig. Blasphemy? You know it!

It’s significant that when a lamb is butchered, it accepts its demise submissively. Not so with a pig. As a child raised on a mixed farm, I personally observed a few swine slaughters. Pigs fight death with everything they’ve got. The screams can be heard for great distances if the event isn’t done effectively. Was that the way Jesus laid His life down for us, screaming and squirming?

“Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I might take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down from Myself. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it again. I have received this commandment from My Father” (John 10:17-18 MKJV).

What can ham possibly have to do with Passover? Does it matter? It’s a symptom of worshipping a pagan goddess. And when you attach the Lord Jesus Christ to all this, it doubly matters! Why do you think the wrath of God is upon your household with all sorts of troubles - darkness, fear, despair, strife, rebellions, failure, addictions, plagues, disease, unemployment, financial problems, divorce – briefly, Hell and death?

Nominal Christians add confusion to confusion and abomination to abomination. They criticize the Jews for celebrating Passover because the Jews don’t realize what it’s about, but let’s briefly describe what “Christians” don’t realize:

Catholics, Anglicans, Episcopalians, Lutherans, and other churches have “Mass” every week (if not daily), a ritual which supposedly represents what is commonly called “the Lord's Supper.” This ritual is derived from what the Lord said at His fulfillment of Passover, as related by Paul:

“For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and giving thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body, which is broken for you; this do in remembrance of Me’” (1 Corinthians 11:23-24 MKJV).

These religious also have a special Mass at Easter that is supposed to somehow represent the annually observed Passover.

So they have a Passover on top of a Passover in the Name of Jesus Christ the Passover Lamb, to celebrate the Passover they are having in the name of Easter, the queen of Heaven, whose worship Jeremiah condemned by the Word of the Lord (Jeremiah 7:18; 44:17-25)!

Besides this, evangelicals have “the Lord’s Supper” or "the breaking of bread" any time and any way they judge feasible - and there are many dogmatic variations in terms of method, content, vessels, those permitted to administer and partake, frequency, and timing. What a circus! Is it any wonder the church systems of this world are called “Babylon” (meaning “confusion”)?

Let’s ask this: If Passover (one of three solemn Feasts ordained by God) should continue to be observed, then what about the other Feasts? What about the Feast of Unleavened Bread, in conjunction with Passover? Little is mentioned of that... probably because it speaks of sincerity and truth, ridding ourselves of all hypocrisy. Who but the godly repentant will go there?

Wasn't the Feast of Pentecost highly significant and important? Pentecost was the birth of the Church of God by the indwelling of the Spirit of God - no minor event. If we ought to celebrate the birth of the Bridegroom, the Head, according to those who celebrate Easter and Christmas, then what about celebrating the birth of the Bride, His Body (the Church)?

And what about the Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement included? Why are not any of these continued in observance by those who insist in celebrating their blasphemous version of Passover – “Easter”? The Day of Atonement was the most solemn day of all; why do they ignore that? Because revelers aren’t interested in repentance of sin, truth, and solemnity.

All these Feasts are now fulfilled in Jesus Christ, however - all of them. Now they must be fulfilled in us, so we may benefit from His sacrificial work on our behalf and be saved through an inner resurrection from the dead by the power of His Spirit. This comes not by pagan celebrations, adding insult to injury, but by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, our One and Only Lord and Savior Who, as the Lamb of God, took away the sin of the world.

In ignorance, nominal Christians think they serve the Lord and wonder why their prayers aren't heard, their kids are sick or dying, and their creditors are at the doors. They stumble in darkness, without understanding or peace, incurring God’s wrath in doing what they shouldn’t, and not doing what they should. Don’t these things grieve the Lord? He once said to me, “I am hurting! I am hurting! My people are suffering (without knowledge)!”

Consider the alternative to the pagan practice of Easter: Christ has fulfilled the Passover Feast, and its physical observance ended at His coming. Honor Him Who gives life, not false gods who bring death.

Diabolical Doctrine 19) God is trying to save the whole world now

People have been saying this for centuries. The first Holy Roman Emperor Constantine gave the good ole college try to help God in His work, making the Western world “Christian.” Doctrines have been devised to “save” or “Christianize” the world through any strategy possible - deceit, flattery, and mostly terror and bribery.

Notice, however, that in the first Passover observance (Exodus 12), the blood of the lamb on the door only saved the firstborn. If the Hebrews hadn’t placed the blood on their doorframes, the firstborn in their households would have died, nobody else. The Egyptians lost their firstborn in that event, nobody else. The animals lost their firstborn, not their remaining offspring.

Since the days of Jesus in His flesh, God has been seeking out and redeeming only the firstfruits, Jesus being the first of the firstfruits. If God could stop someone from sin so easily and dramatically as He did Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:1-8), why not all others? Because He doesn’t want to; it isn’t time.

You may ask, “Did Jesus not die to redeem the entire world?” The answer is yes, but not all immediately, although the foundation for the salvation of all was laid in the cross and resurrection.

Consider that while some experience a drawing of God that is beyond them, a searching struggle within, with no externally apparent reason, others around them, in similar circumstances, couldn’t care less. “No man can come unto the Son except the Father draws him,” said Jesus (John 6:44). Why doesn’t the Father draw some? Because it isn’t their time.

Why did Jesus come to divide (Matthew 10:34-39)? Because it was time for some, and not for others. You may say, “God knows the heart and draws those who seek after Him.” Isn’t that a rather self-righteous concept? Doesn’t that suggest righteousness with man? Do not the Scriptures plainly declare that no man seeks after God? Only when the Father determines to draw a man will the man begin to seek, not until then. If a person has anything good going for him, it is only by God’s grace.

I wasn’t seeking after God for years, and then I was... no outward explanation. Was it because of adverse circumstances? I had no more than many others and far less than some who still couldn’t care less. No, my seeking was a sovereign act of God, one of sheer grace and mercy. I had nothing to do with it, deserving and earning nothing.

When I was being called, my family wasn’t, my friends weren’t, and I had to leave them all behind. They didn’t have the slightest desire for God. Trying to talk to them about God was like trying to explain physics to dogs in a kennel. I was one of those dogs until God’s Spirit began to move on me.

Are we to preach the Gospel to every creature? That is what the disciples were told, and as they went, some believed, some didn’t, some were saved, some were damned, and most were left for the future. In the whole process, the Lord chose His firstfruits, vessels of honor, and also vessels of dishonor. And both have their purpose for the time – one called to forsake and the other forsaken.

Never do we find Paul, or any other apostle, saying, “Saints, we have to get out there at all costs and reach the lost! They’re going straight to Hell, never to return, ever to burn! We have got to do something! Every minute, every penny counts! We can’t waste time or effort or money! This is so important, above all things! Think of it!”

If God has been trying these 2,000 years to save the world, then He is a dismal failure and Satan a clear winner. God saves one percent, and ninety-nine percent go to everlasting, unimaginable torment, “everlasting” meaning “time never ending.” These miserable results in spite of the fact that love wins the day, and hatred never pays; God is good, Satan is evil; God is victorious, Satan gets defeated; God is Creator, Satan a mere creature; God is Omnipotent, Satan infinitely weaker; God sacrifices His only begotten Son, Satan sacrifices nothing; God is Omniscient and All-wise, while Satan is the prince of darkness having no fear of God!

Isn’t it time we began to give God, rather than Satan, the glory and praise by the things we believe and speak? Are these not indeed diabolical doctrines if only because they give Satan all the credit? (If you say, “God has given man a free will and must allow him to choose for himself,” then read the next Diabolical Doctrine, which takes a look at free will.)

If God is trying to save the whole world now, you who call yourself a Christian carry an impossible burden seeing as how you claim God needs you to go out and save as many as possible, as soon as possible and at all costs, because (according to you) He is dependent on the efforts of men. And haven’t the results thus far shown that “victory” is miserable and God is the clear loser in saving all people in this life?

No, the truth is that in the ages to come, Jesus Christ will save every man:

Romans 5:18-20 MKJV
(18) Therefore as by one offense sentence came on all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of One the free gift came to all men to justification of life.
(19) For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous.
(20) But the Law entered so that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.

Consider the alternative to believing this doctrine: God is in full control. He works all things according to the counsel of His will; He will accomplish all that He determines to do, being Lord over all. You can rest in Him.

Read in our section, The Restitution of All Things.

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Diabolical Doctrine 20) Man has free will

Where Was My Free Will?

I was born Canadian, Manitoban, of Ukrainian descent, a poor Catholic male, the eldest in a family of five children with but one sister, at this time in history.

I was born with straight hair when I would have preferred curly. I would have preferred to be taller, stronger, smarter, handsomer, more popular, etc. And I was born to unbelieving parents.

Because of their unbelief, we suffered many things; sin flourished, and we reaped its consequences. Did I ask for it? Not that I’m aware. Am I now unthankful? No. That is the way it was, and with what God has now given me, I know that I have more than heart could wish and wouldn’t trade shoes with anybody.

What God has given and done with me hasn’t been by my choosing, as were none of my prior circumstances. Obviously, I had no free will in these or so many other matters.

Is There Free Will in Moral Matters?

Some say free will only pertains to moral issues. How easy was it for me to have free will on moral issues compared to others when, from the cradle, I was taught idolatry, pagan worship, lies, and diabolical doctrines, while other children, born of believing parents, had the opportunity to hear the truth from infancy?

Is not the believer’s choosing of a wife a moral issue? God declares believers are to marry believing, not unbelieving, wives. So now what about Samson? His parents were distraught when he decided to marry a Philistine, contrary to God’s Law. Yet the record bears witness that it was God’s determination that Samson do this:

Judges 14:1-4 MKJV
(1) And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
(2) And he came up and told his father and his mother, and said, “I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. And now get her for me for a wife.”
(3) And his father and his mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your brothers, or among all my people, that you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” And Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she pleases me very much.”
(4) But his father and his mother did not know that it was from the LORD, that He was looking for an occasion against the Philistines. For at that time the Philistines had the rule over Israel.

Indeed, Samson’s entire destiny was determined before he was born (Judges 13). How much free will did Samson and his parents have?

When Moses gave excuses at the burning bush to avoid God’s mission for him, God became angry. Call it whatever kind of issue you please, but obedience is a moral issue whether to God or any authority set over one, and it is certainly a spiritual one when it is God Who requires obedience to Him personally. God decides what is required and what isn't, and man has no free will to circumvent His will.

Is There Free Will in Predestination?

The Scriptures declare that before Isaac was in his mother’s womb, he was destined to be Abraham’s beloved miracle son. What free will was there for him?

How much freedom did Isaac have when aged, being blind in his latter years? What free will did he have to give the blessing to Esau, his favored son, when he was deceived by his wife and Jacob, who thwarted his desire? We know this happened according to the will of God as expressed in the prophetic Word to Rebekah when Jacob and Esau were still in her womb:

“And the LORD said to her, Two nations are in your womb, and two kinds of people shall be separated from your bowels. And the one people shall be stronger than the other people, the older shall serve the younger” (Genesis 25:23 MKJV).

How is it Jacob would obtain the birthright, though Esau was the firstborn? Was it free will that Esau exercised while selling his birthright for nothing, or was his choice predetermined?

This writing is but a tiny sampling of the many instances in the Scriptures of the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ruling out man’s freedom of will.

What exercising of free will was there when the Lord apprehended Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, and why were the others with him let go to carry on? What free will was there when it was determined that Saul would suffer great things for the Lord, unlike others?

When the Lord apprehended me in 1973, I had a family dear to me - mother, father, brothers, sister, cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandmothers. I lost them all. I now have a wife. I didn’t want one. In my early days as a believer, I had hoped to be another apostle Paul, who was single and who said it was better not to marry if possible, thereby serving the Lord with greater attention. My wife was pressed upon me, for which I am now very thankful. I had no idea how much I needed her.

I also have a miracle son. About 11 months before he was born, the Lord said to me, “See what I’ll do for you now.” I didn’t ask for children and again I’m very thankful. We have a home I didn’t ask for (perhaps my wife did), finances, friends, and other things we didn’t earn, deserve, or ask for. Most of all, the Lord made Himself known to me when I wasn’t seeking or wanting Him. How rare and wonderful is that? Free will? How so?

The Scriptures teach that man is born in sin and a slave to it. If he is a slave, then how does he have free will? I declare it is God Who determines all things. Man determines nothing - until he is redeemed from the tyranny of sin, fulfilled in the image of God and established on the throne with Him - he has no free will. Only when complete in Christ, can one have free will, even as God has, in Whose image man is created.

Doesn’t the Bible say God chooses vessels of honor and of dishonor? What choice did Pharaoh have when God hardened his heart against Moses?

“For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘Even for this same purpose I have raised you up, that I might show My power in you, and that My Name might be declared throughout all the earth.’ Therefore He has mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will, He hardens” (Romans 9:17-18 MKJV).

It is said, “God knew Pharaoh’s heart and determined things accordingly.” That is plain silly... more intellectual acrobatics on the part of those trying to defend the indefensible doctrine of free will, utterly contrary to Scripture and to God. Where is the proof? Why should we trust opinion and speculation rather than the unvarnished truth?

“A man's heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps” (Proverbs 16:9 MKJV).

“The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD as the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He will” (Proverbs 21:1 MKJV).

Is Believing a Matter of Choice, Much Less Free Will?

“O LORD, I know that the way of man does not belong to man; it is not in man who walks to direct his steps” (Jeremiah 10:23 MKJV).

Who chooses whom? Did not Jesus say to the disciples, “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you” (John 15:16)?

So carnal reasoning comes in and says, “Yes, but they could have refused being chosen... they made a choice.” But didn’t Jesus later say to the Father (in John 17) that He had kept all those which the Father gave Him, that He hadn’t lost one? If one of those had chosen to reject the choosing of God, wouldn’t Jesus have had to say something like, “They didn’t all choose to be with Me”?

So the carnal man comes in again and says, “God doesn’t need anybody; if one refuses, He raises up another in his stead.” Then why should Jesus make a statement about not losing any if they are so dispensable?

Even Evildoers Are Chosen

Also, when Jesus said He hadn’t lost one, He went on to say, “None of them is lost, except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12). So where was the free will of Judas?

Again, the carnal man steps in, arguing, “God knew Judas’ heart from the beginning, knowing he would choose evil.” So where was the free will of all those Judas impacted?

Why did God want a betrayer involved in the first place? Because it was necessary for the Son of Man to be betrayed. Is it not foolish to think that first there is free will, then necessary spots or roles to be filled by those who can choose to do as they wish? Would this not be chaos, and still not free will?

All Lives Predetermined

Is it only Judas and the disciples who had certain futures determined by the counsel and foreknowledge of God? The Scriptures are abundantly clear for those given to see that every creature is pre-ordained for a specific purpose, whether Esau or Nebuchadnezzar or Judas or Peter or the men who “crept in unawares” or Isaac or Moses or Joseph or Paul or even the blind man from birth:

“And passing by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, ‘Master, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither has this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God might be revealed in him’” (John 9:1-3 MKJV).

Did Joseph have free will? “I don’t want to be sold into slavery and go to Egypt, God. Cancel my dreams; send someone else!”

My Jewish landlady of 1974, Resie Korber, said to me, “We Jews are called ‘the chosen people.’ We say, ‘Choose somebody else.’” What choice have the Jews had all these millennia?

Masters of Our Own Destiny?

Another way of expressing free will is to say, “We are the masters of our own destiny/fate.”

If someone were to speak those words in the ears of many orthodox evangelical Christians, the listeners would be quick to roundly condemn them. Yet these same people will just as strongly declare we all have free will. What’s the difference? Truly, if man has free will, isn’t he master of his own fate and therefore may have or do anything he chooses?

Stop and Consider, Can You?

Haven’t we chosen so many things that didn’t materialize? Haven’t we been constantly subjected to circumstances not of our choosing? Don’t the effects of those undesirable circumstances determine the outcome of our lives and those of others? Who can deny it?

One will have no choice but to acknowledge these things to be true, unless he chooses to be wrong! However, one day we will all choose to be right, and therefore we will have no choice to choose the wrong! Why will we choose the right? It will be because of Him Who causes us to do choose:

“For it is God Who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13 MKJV).

Limited Free Will?

Now one may say, “We have free will. Because we don’t get what we want, or because our choices don’t work out, doesn’t mean we don’t have free will.”

Isn’t this more of the same contradiction? What’s the point of being free to move arms and legs in a tight cage if I can’t be free from that cage to use my arms and legs? Life is full of cages. What kind of free will is it to have limited freedom?

The Essence of the Doctrine of Free Will

The doctrine of free will is an arrogant premise founded in the Adamic fall. Free will is a delusion, a denial of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It says, “I am Lord.”

It is also an attitude of sour grapes. Instead of admitting he is wrong and repenting of trusting in himself, man essentially doubles down, taking the position he is right and God is wrong. “I fell, I was warned this would happen, but I convince myself I did the right thing - I’m free to do as I please now, I will do it and nobody is going to stop me!”

To think so is to slavishly serve error.

The notion of free will is a symptom of pride and self-righteousness. Men prefer to think they are the architects of their destinies, almost as though they are God Himself. The doctrine of free will is a doctrine of devils.

God Alone Has Free Will

God is Lord of all. He alone is the Master of all destinies; otherwise He is Lord of nothing. Either one has free will, or one does not. Liberty must be total, or it isn’t true liberty – it’s only frustrating torment.

One day, those in Christ will be free in every respect. As the Lord Jesus promised, “When the Son of Man makes you free, you will be free indeed!” (John 8:36). Until that time of fulness comes, we are only deceiving ourselves in thinking we have free will.

Only the Light of all men has the key to deliverance from the chains of darkness that bind us, chains of death and Hell. The day will come when Jesus Christ makes us complete in spite of the choice Adam made and in spite of, not because of, the choices we’ve made or any works we’ve done:

“For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10 MKJV).

Isn’t truth emancipatory? What a burden lifted!

Consider the alternative to the terrible burden of believing you have free will, which leaves you with the Creator’s responsibility and the creature’s impotence to handle it. Give God the glory and acknowledge His sovereignty. Confess with your heart He is Lord. Then things will make perfect sense and you can rest and rejoice in God, knowing He is your Perfectly Capable God.

Read in our section Free Will.

Diabolical Doctrine 21) Now we are in the dispensation of Grace, not Law

“For truly I say to you, Till the Heaven and the earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle shall in any way pass from the Law until all is fulfilled. Therefore whoever shall relax one of these commandments, the least, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:18-19 MKJV).

Another way of putting this diabolical doctrine is, “We don’t have to worry about keeping God’s Law. That was for the Jews before Christ’s day. They were under the dispensation of Law, but we’re now in the age of Grace.”

This doctrine subtly encourages lawlessness.

It is error to teach that when we first become Christians, we are under grace. Spiritual pilgrims must come to know the Law of God and its requirements upon us by experience. We must be subjected to the essence of the Old Testament (though not the ritualism) before we can enter into the rest of the grace of God in full. This can only come by our Lawmaker, Who is the Law, Jesus Christ.

The apostle Paul wrote some of the Book of Romans as a type of roadmap of our spiritual journey. For example, the sixth chapter speaks of our coming into Christ by being baptized into His death and receiving His Spirit. Preceding chapters speak of the preparation for being baptized into His Body.

Chapter seven then speaks of great trials that ensue upon entrance of the Lord into one’s life. It is a battle between the carnal and the spiritual (which doesn’t exist before one comes to Christ) and between keeping the Law and experiencing the fulfillment of it by the power of the Resurrection Life. By the end of chapter seven, the victory of Christ within comes to fruition and the soul enters chapter eight, exulting in his Savior.

The point is that no spiritual sojourner skips the step of coming to personal knowledge of the requirement of the Law of God. All must understand by experience that the Law must be fulfilled, and that the Law is impossible to be honored in the flesh. So it is error to teach a historical dispensation of grace that nullifies a personal session of God’s Law at work within the believer.

Paul confirmed this truth in his letter to the Galatians:

Galatians 3:21-24 MKJV
(21) Is the Law then against the promises of God? Let it not be said! For if a law had been given which could have given life, indeed righteousness would have been out of Law.
(22) But the Scripture shut up all under sin, so that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
(23) But before faith came, we were kept under Law, having been shut up to the faith about to be revealed.
(24) So that the Law has become a trainer of us until Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

So we see that those who believe exercise faith before Christ comes to manifest victory in their souls. The seed of saving faith, which is planted within, causes the soul to recognize the primacy of God’s Law, and to come under it as teacher. This is turn brings the soul to Christ for the Law’s fulfillment, which is His appearing and our salvation:

“So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him [by faith] shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Hebrews 9:28 KJV).

That is not to say there was no historical dispensation of Law with all its external requirements. Who did the Law apply to in the outward practice? It only applied to the theocratic nation of Israel. The rest of the world had nothing to do with it. It is true that we live in the nations, the rest of the world, and have never been under the historical “dispensation of Law.”

Now what about Israel, as a nation in this world, presently without elements of the Law - the Temple, the Levitical priesthood, solemn feasts, and sacrifices? Those elements were all destroyed by Rome nearly 2,000 years ago, along with the nation and its capital, Jerusalem. Are the Jews therefore now under grace? If so, why are they still in unbelief after 2,000 years? Because the Scriptures say God would harden the Jews to bring the Gentiles to the faith of Abraham, which would then provoke the Jews to jealousy. The Jews would then be restored to God.

Try to tell the Jews they have been under grace for the last two millennia, if you wish to speak of grace in terms of unmerited favor and blessings, not in terms of persecutions, homelessness, pogroms, and in our day, the horrific Holocaust. Even now, with part of their nation restored to them, they suffer multifarious troubles - worldwide hatred, censure, persecution, economic hardship, and conflict, within and without.

It is taught by some that Israel as a nation was forever cast away and what was denied the Jews was granted to the Gentiles, who form the Body of Christ. In essence, this false doctrine says Israel was subjected to the dispensation of Law, while the Gentiles entered the promised dispensation of grace by the Jewish Messiah, Whom Israel rejected and slew. By God’s grace and enlightenment, a reading of Romans chapters nine through eleven, along with the prophets of old, as well as the consideration of the return of the Jews to their land, in our own generation, will conclusively dispel such error for any reasonable heart and mind.

So, then, to whom do these so-called dispensations apply - how and when? We have the historical record of the Law of God introduced by Moses 3,500 years ago and ending 2,000 years ago with Israel’s destruction. We also have the Christian congregation, the Body of Christ in the world since that time. However, we must understand that, as believers, we each have that same “Old Testament” history to experience for ourselves, a period of Law followed by a coming of spiritual maturity in Christ known as “the rest” or “sanctification.” Not one sojourner in Christ is immediately exempt of a period of struggle with the demand of the Law of God.

Jesus Christ didn’t take our place on the cross; He made the way for us to join Him on the cross. The Law slays us, we die, and with Christ, we are raised up from the dead.

Ask yourself one simple question, you who have received Christ: Of what stage in his spiritual life was Paul speaking when he said?:

Romans 7:9-23 MKJV
(9) For I was alive without the Law once. But when the Commandment came, sin revived and I died.
(10) And the Commandment, which was to life, was found to be death to me.
(11) For sin, taking occasion by the Commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.
(12) So indeed the Law is holy, and the Commandment is holy and just and good.
(13) Then has that which is good become death to me? Let it not be! But sin, that it might appear to be sin, working death in me by that which is good; in order that sin might become exceedingly sinful by the Commandment.
(14) For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.
(15) For that which I do, I know not. For what I desire, that I do not do; but what I hate, that I do.
(16) If then I do that which I do not desire, I consent to the Law that it is good.
(17) But now it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me.
(18) For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I do not find.
(19) For I do not do the good that I desire; but the evil which I do not will, that I do.
(20) But if I do what I do not desire, it is no more I working it out, but sin dwelling in me.
(21) I find then a law: when I will to do the right, evil is present with me.
(22) For I delight in the Law of God according to the inward man;
(23) but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin being in my members.

Don’t verses 22 and 23 answer that question? Paul speaks of a delight in the Law of God according to his inward man. There exists no such delight in anyone without Christ first having done a work of grace. As Paul said in chapter three, describing man before he comes to Christ, there exists nothing good in anyone – “Their feet are swift to shed blood; the venom of asps is under their lips….”

So in Christ, we must each live in the dispensation of the Law for a time until we overcome. Grace always comes with Law in the spiritual life, and then, by grace, the Law is fulfilled within. Those who think to live in grace without having experienced the Law have been deceived by a false gospel. They worship “another Jesus,” be assured. Their grace is nothing more or less than iniquity (lawlessness). And these all hate the Law, notwithstanding their claims and professions of faith in Christ. The true saints of God, however, love and establish His Law:

“Do we then make the Law void through faith? Let it not be! But we establish the Law” (Romans 3:31 MKJV).

While the entire world experiences a measure of grace, has any of the world experienced the reign of grace, as Israel experienced the reign of Law? How so, if we have no “Christian” or “Messianic” nation?

So where is this “dispensation”? If not with nations, then where and with whom? Is it true that true Christians are without Law, it being done away, as many erroneously suppose? Is it true that grace only came when Jesus Christ appeared as a man?

It is said that Canada, the US, and other nations are Christian nations (presumably under grace). The fact is there has never been a Christian nation other than Israel if you speak of “Christian” as under God in the form of a theocracy (rule of and by God). While individuals within nations have acknowledged the Lordship of Jesus Christ, no people as a nation ever has, even though all things in Heaven and earth are under God’s sovereignty, including all nations, believers, unbelievers, Satan, devils, angels, death, and Hell.

You may say Israel was never a Christian nation. However, Jesus Christ was always there, being God. Because He didn’t make His appearance in history as the Son of God until later does not presuppose He wasn’t there. Paul refers to His Presence with the children of Israel:

“And all drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank of the spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4 MKJV).

Who called Abraham? Who formed the nation of Israel? Who gave the Law? Who did it all? Jesus Christ, Lord of lords, King of kings, the One by Whom all things were made, and by Whom all things consist, says the Word of the Lord.

Jesus said the Law has never been, and will never be, done away:

Matthew 5:17-19 MKJV
(17) Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to destroy but to fulfill.
(18) For truly I say to you, Till the heaven and the earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle shall in any way pass from the Law until all is fulfilled.
(19) Therefore whoever shall relax one of these commandments, the least, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Therefore, there can be no age without the Law of God. And grace has also always been there, right from day one, even as it says Moses and Noah found grace in the sight of God. Therefore, there can be no age without grace. It was by grace Enoch was translated, Abraham was called, Isaac was born, and Jacob chosen. Grace was always present. It isn’t a matter of epochal dispensation.

Among Gentile nations, grace gave Nebuchadnezzar dominion, he being that head of gold, not by his own will or power, as he learned the hard way and as Daniel declares. By grace, Cyrus of Persia decreed that Israel be sent back from captivity to its own land to rebuild the Temple. Only as determined from above, all empires, nations, and leaders have arisen to take their places, by grace.

Law and grace both apply in our personal spiritual lives as believers, “dispensationally,” if you will. First comes the Law, as Paul says. By grace, we are made aware of God’s holy spiritual Law and its requirement upon us; by grace, we realize it must be met, so we try to keep it. We fall short, learning it’s impossible to keep. We cry out to God and receive grace to fulfill the Law of God by His Spirit of grace.

The false conversion to Christ disregards the Law and goes directly to lawlessness, calling that “grace,” deeming that to be true faith. Thus are formed the tares, the proselytes, the sons of iniquity, who then go about making disciples who become twofold children of Hell, all the while calling themselves born-again Christians who have “accepted Jesus as Savior.” (Read The False and Misleading Gospel of “Accepting” Jesus Christ.)

Let it be known to all: Those who are the Lord’s love the Law and seek to keep it with all their hearts.

“Oh how I love Your Law! It is my meditation all the day. Through Your Commandments You make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me” (Psalms 119:97-98 MKJV).

This is the resounding declaration, the public heartfelt cry, of every true child of God who loves the Author of the Law.

“Where there is no vision, the people perish [many recite those words, but ask them to recite the rest of that verse and they are lost]... but he that keeps Your Law, happy is he!” (Proverbs 29:18)

Isaiah declares, “Behold My servant, Whom I uphold; My Elect, in Whom My soul delights; I have put My Spirit upon Him: He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles... the isles shall wait for His Law” (Isaiah 42:1-4).

The Gentiles? Isn’t it said they came into grace, not the Law? What are the prophets talking about? Do they know? Yes, in Christ the Gentiles come to live and establish the Law by His grace!

“Who is blind, but My servant? Or deaf, as My messenger that I sent? Who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the Lord’s servant? …The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake; he will magnify the Law, and make it honorable” (Isaiah 42:19, 21).

From Genesis to Revelation, the Law of God is present. Before Adam fell, there was Law: “You shall not eat of the Tree of Knowledge….” The longest Psalm is as relevant today as it was in Adam’s day and the day it was written. A prominent Biblical theme is the Law of God, and Psalm 119 begins with, “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk after the Law of the Lord” (Psalms 119:1 KJV).

What about the very first Psalm? “Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the Law of the Lord; and in His Law does he meditate day and night” (Psalms 1:1 KJV).

Was not this Psalm written by the Spirit of grace?

Consider the alternative to believing the false doctrine of the absence of Law in the life of the spiritual pilgrim: Love the Law of God, pursue and establish it with all that is in you. It is for your life. And you shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:19). This is true salvation.

Read Iniquity, Law and Grace, and Grace – The Reality.

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Diabolical Doctrine 22) Denominations are legitimate in the sight of God

Satan promotes legitimacy and credibility of his kingdom by glorifying his gates of Hell in order to keep men in darkness and maintain his control over their souls. And men must justify their lawlessness and independence of God, because they worship what, when, where, and how they please. As it is written, “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25).

Jesus prayed and told others to pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” There is almost unanimous agreement with the belief that when Christians get to Heaven, there will be no sections dividing them by denomination. They will all be one.

So let me ask this: If the Lord told us to pray that God’s will be done on earth as it is in Heaven, what right do we have to be partisan on earth? What right do we have to divide, or contribute to division?

In obedience to the Lord, we’ve not been part of any denomination or official church group for over 36 years now. We’ve been called a cult for this and repeatedly told we have forsaken assembling with believers (Hebrews 10:25). But I say to those who participate in separate church organizations and denominations that they are the ones who forsake assembling with the obedient or faithful people of God. They are the cults of men – following the pope of Rome, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Billy Graham, Menno Simons, Jacob Huter, John Knox, John Wesley, William Booth, William Branham, Joseph Smith, Benny Hinn, Oral Roberts, Jack Van Impe, and a multitude of others.

It is our accusers who walk in darkness and not light, because Jesus Christ is Light and He isn’t found where He tells us not to be. If these churches are each so faithfully pointing to the God of Heaven and earth, why are they so divided and in disagreement on so many doctrines and issues? The fact is, they aren’t pointing to any truth, certainly not to God’s, and that’s why they are where they are, contrary to the Lord and His commandments.

Why do so many Protestant denominations seem to think the Roman Catholic Church is legitimate? The “mother church” seeks every opportunity to bring its “wayward children” back into the fold so that there may be one fold and one shepherd, the “most holy father,” the “sole vicar of Christ” on earth, the pope at Rome.

“God is working unity among the churches today,” I have heard people say for decades. Those who used to say it, in the old days, fade away while denominations increase in number. The only unity they have is that they are all alike - false, formal, empty of God, and under His continual wrath. When they unite organizationally, just as some did, many decades ago, to form the United Church of Canada, they compromise on Biblical doctrine and practice; they compromise for unity’s sake and organizational survival. It has nothing to do with unity in the Spirit of God.

But those who desire to be joined in unity with God and His people will come out of organized religion. They will cease pleasing one another to please themselves. They will repent of proud independence. They will submit themselves to God, not to men building their own kingdoms in competition with the Kingdom of God.

They will submit to His authority, seek to obey, receive correction, and be taught in His ways. There will be no more games, religious entertainments, lawlessness, hypocrisy, uncleanness, and divisions. God will be the Unifying Factor, not men, not doctrine, not membership, not social benefits, or any other thing.

Wrote Paul to carnal partisans at Corinth:

1 Corinthians 1:10-13 MKJV
(10) But I exhort you, brothers, by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you; but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
(11) For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brothers, by those of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
(12) But I say this, that every one of you says, ‘I am of Paul,’ and ‘I of Apollos,’ and ‘I of Cephas,’ and ‘I of Christ.’
(13) Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

It’s remarkable how people can sit in their denominational pews and criticize the Corinthians about their divisions, but they do. I did, until the Lord opened my eyes. How easy it is to see the error and faults of others, yet be so blind to our own! But God got through to me, and now I preach so others may know His will.

It is said that God raised up denominations to emphasize some important truth. Baptists press home the alleged importance of water baptism, Pentecostals preach the baptism in the Holy Spirit, the Salvation Army emphasizes attending to the poor, and so forth.

Why, contrary to the Scriptures and God’s call for the Body of Christ to be of one mind and heart, do we need general division in order to press home specific truths? Isn’t that a bit like getting prostitutes to preach chastity? Just what do they smoke, who dream up these rationalizations for wickedness?

And what do Catholics have in truth that others don’t – that the harlot church is the true church of God? (Of course, the Catholics insist everything they believe is true.) The Church of England (Anglican Church in Canada; Episcopalian Church in the US) has what truth that others don’t? Its origin was Henry VIII’s bid for royal divorce, the very foundation a form of disunity, condemned by God.

The Methodists have what truth that others don’t? Their origin was that the Wesleys preached faith and wanted a loosening of the formality and authority imposed by the Church of England. Yet many groups preach faith and less authority of men. So why aren’t they joined together?

The Salvation Army believes in what they term the “second blessing,” referring to the baptism in the Holy Spirit, but try to find one member who has experienced, or sincerely believes, it exists anymore. So what is their truth? Uniforms and tubas? They give to the poor, but so do others to various degrees. The United Way and World Vision also give, and they don’t pretend to be a church. Truly, the founder of the Salvation Army, “General Booth,” began a cult.

It’s easy to imagine what both the religious and secular populaces would think if our fellowship began wearing uniforms. “Cult! Cult! Down with them! They think they’re better than us! They’re dangerous! They’ll take our kids away and steal sheep from our denominations!”

The Baptists establish themselves as the holy keepers of water baptism, yet have no use whatsoever for being baptized in the Spirit of Christ Whom they profess to serve and which spiritual new birth water baptism represents. Isn’t that like taking a nut, saving the shell, and tossing away the meat? In rebuking the Corinthians, Paul emphasized Spirit baptism and played down water baptism:

1 Corinthians 1:14-17 MKJV
(14) I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,
(15) lest any should say that I had baptized in my own name.
(16) And I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides these, I do not know if I baptized any other.
(17) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel; not in wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.

The Baptists claim to preach Paul’s Gospel, yet contradict him on fundamental matters of faith. They don’t believe, but try telling them so. They will insist their faith and denomination are the only truly legitimate ones.

The Pentecostals preach the Pentecostal blessing, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, but I’ve run into very few Pentecostals with the Spirit of God. I have seen some with other spirits, tongues and all.

Reformers are ever dividing themselves and reforming until there are almost as many Reform churches as there are Reformer members. And they’re proud of it. To them it’s a joke - they have no knowledge of Christ or respect for the unity of His Body. Mock God, you Calvinists, will you? And your histories show how grievously you suffer consequences for your pride and divisiveness.

“I am of Luther, I am of Calvin, I am of Menno Simons, I am of Joseph Smith, I am of Jacob Huter, I am of William Branham; I belong to Christ Church, I belong to the Church of Christ, I belong to Disciples of Christ...” and nobody worships the Lord Jesus Christ in spirit and in truth.

Do denominations emphasize truth in holy fashion by the will of God? I say they emphasize rebellion against the One they profess to love, worship, and serve. They are altogether contrary to God.

2 Corinthians 6:14-18 MKJV
(14) Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship does righteousness have with lawlessness? And what partnership does light have with darkness?
(15) And what agreement does Christ have with Belial? Or what part does a believer have with an unbeliever?
(16) And what agreement does a Temple of God have with idols? For you are the Temple of the living God, as God has said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”
(17) Therefore come out from among them and be separated, says the Lord, and do not touch the unclean thing. And I will receive you
(18) and I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.

“He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal Myself to him” (John 14:21 MKJV).

“Jesus answered and said to him, If a man loves Me, he will keep My Word. And My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him” (John 14:23 MKJV).

Consider the alternative to believing denominations are legitimate: If you obey God in holiness and come out from the works of men according to the Scriptures, you will see God and He will make His abode in you.

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Diabolical Doctrine 23) Believers no longer hear God’s personal voice as in Biblical times

Those who aren’t the Lord’s haven’t heard the voice of the Lord, for He says, “My sheep hear My voice” (John 10:27). Throughout the Scriptures, in both Old and New Testaments, believers heard the voice of God directly and personally. But unbelievers today, many of whom think themselves to be born-again Christians, say, “Now that Christ is in us, He doesn’t have to speak to us any longer, as God did in the past, because we now we have the completed Bible.”

Tell me if it makes any sense to say that while believers in the past had the Bible (at least in part), but not Him within them, He spoke to them directly and personally, but now that we have Him within, He speaks to us only by the Bible! This is classic Bibliolatry.

I have heard some of these people also contradict themselves. On the one hand, they say, “We no longer hear His voice,” but on the other, they claim, “He speaks to our heart.” He doesn’t speak to them, but He will speak to their blood-pumping organ? I’m told there were times when, and cultures where, the liver or the kidneys were known as the central, vital organ of life. “He spoke to my liver about starting a work,” you might have once heard people say.

The fearful and unbelieving argue that if one tries to hear God’s voice, they can get carried away with their imaginations and even open themselves up to demonic forces. Fair enough, that’s certainly true, depending on their motives.

Are there other voices? Jesus said there were:

John 10:1-5 ESV
(1) “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.
(2) But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
(3) To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
(4) When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
(5) A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”

Many hear the voices of demons and men telling them all sorts of things they want to hear, from telling them to preach to telling them to kill. There are evil spirits that prophesy, pray, confess there is but one God, and even praise the Lord. They can be very deceptive. Brother John counsels us to try the spirits:

1 John 4:1-3 ESV
(1) Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
(2) By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,
(3) and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

The existence of counterfeits doesn’t negate the real, however, but rather testifies of it, for copies are made only of that which is real.

People, the Lord died for us and came to indwell us, not so we would have personal fellowship with a book, even if it is the Holy Scriptures. He came to establish a personal, intimate, direct communication and fellowship with Him. He didn’t lay down His life to hold us at arm’s length, only coming through a book and preachers expounding on it. He came to live with us!

The Lord also doesn’t communicate in an indirect and indeterminate way, by nuanced feelings of the heart, but speaks plainly and unmistakably, directing us with certainty in faith.

That’s how God spoke to us:

How, by the Bible, would He tell my wife Marilyn in 1975, by tongues and interpretation, that my brother and sister-in-law would have a son, which they weren’t able to have at that time, but soon did?

How would He tell Marilyn, by the Bible, that we would be going to England, which we did that year by strange and unforeseen circumstances?

How would He inform us in 1977 that we would be going to Israel, which happened in 1979?

How would He give me a personal command such as, “Go to Lethbridge,” which He did in 1982? We went and have been here ever since.

These are among thousands of personal commands, revelations, rebukes, and communications we received from Him over the decades.

“He just lays it on your heart,” you reply, but I say to you, “You’ve never heard His voice because you’ve never believed and obeyed Him.”

He said:

“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 14:21 ESV).

“I will manifest Myself to him.” Only by a book? Only by feelings? Is that how you would relate to your child? Is that how your child would want you to relate to it? How silly! If this is what you believe, how great is your unbelief and your separation from the One you profess to believe in and worship!

Let me tell you this: When you repent and turn to the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, He will manifest Himself to you as it pleases Him, even as the Father manifest Himself to the Son, not by the Scriptures only, but personally.

Consider the alternative to believing this false doctrine: If you can’t hear His voice because you aren’t His, then you’ll hear His voice when you are His, even as He declared.

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Diabolical Doctrine 24) All believers have equal authority and status

“The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to reserve the unjust for a day of judgment, to be punished, and especially those who walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise dominion. They are darers, self-pleasing; not trembling at glories, speaking evil” (2 Peter 2:9-10 MKJV).

The mindset that all believers have equal authority and status with God is another doctrine of devils. It breeds independence and disrespect for those God has set in His Body as leaders, making their responsibility so much more difficult and robbing those who believe this lie of the things they could have of God. They are damned by their thinking, which is prideful and rebellious.

To despise authority is the sin of the sons of Korah, who were swallowed up by the earth, they, their loved ones, homes, and possessions. That’s what happens with those who gainsay and resist the anointed leaders of God. They are swallowed up by the world in Hell and death.

This doctrine arose partially as an unlearned reaction against the abuse of authority by mainline religious organizations and churches, like the Catholic Church, Orthodox Church, the Church of England, the Lutheran Church, and others that taught that only the clergy could have access to God on behalf of the laity. In revolt, the baby was thrown out with the bath water, and soon nobody acknowledged duly-appointed authorities of God. The general root of the sin, however, is pride and a heart willingly independent of God.

In the “Christian” world today, there are both extremes - too much and too little mediation. On the one hand, we have people believing they can receive nothing but by human mediators, like priests and pastors, thus receiving nothing from God personally. On the other hand, some think it is solely between them and God, thus receiving nothing of Him from His servants who come as the Lord did, outside the systems of men. God doesn’t talk to the proud and independent souls who think to hear from Him while doing their own thing.

Both situations - those dependent on men and those who look only to themselves - undermine faith and discourage the practice and privilege of prayer, which goes unanswered by God.

It’s true that all believers who walk by faith have access to God, but not all have equal access at all times.

It is written, “For there is one God, and One Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). Using those words, some assume all Christians need nobody to go to God on their behalf.

I believed this error for years, until God spoke to me saying I could come to Him not only for myself and my family, but on behalf of any who had problems or questions. Since then, on several occasions, believers and unbelievers (yes, even unbelievers) have come to me, requesting that I petition God on their behalves, and prayers have been directly, specifically answered, some with miracles.

I began to wonder why believers should come to me for prayer if they had that same privilege themselves, according to this doctrine of equal status and power before God. I realized the Scriptures are full of evidence that there are varying limits to what privileges certain believers are granted of God.

Why would Peter and John have to pray for the Samaritans to receive the Holy Spirit? Why couldn’t Philip pray for them on this matter? After all, he was full of the Holy Spirit and faith (Acts 6:3-5) and had preached to the Samaritans, whereby they believed. He had even cast devils out of them and many were healed. Miracles were happening by his ministry (read Acts 8). Why couldn’t the Samaritans, who were now believers, ask for themselves?

Why are elders called for to anoint the sick and pray for their healing? The sick of whom James speaks were believers. Why don’t sick believers exercise their own priesthood privileges if they’re equal in authority and power?

“Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Name of the Lord” (James 5:14 ESV).

Why did the Ephesians need Paul to pray for them (Acts 19)? Didn’t they believe? The Scriptures call them disciples.

Not only are there differing levels of authority and privilege with God, but intercession comes on common levels as well, such as when they are told to pray for one another that they may be healed:

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16 ESV).

Who needs another to pray for him if we always have equal privilege with God? Apparently we need one another and the Body of Christ. No believer is an island, though there may be times of being alone.

I haven’t brought up the Old Testament, in which there are many examples of mediation on the part of a man of God, because it could be argued that Christ had not yet come to grant priesthood to all believers. But didn’t the Lord say to Israel, not just the Levites, “And you shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation”? And: “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for His treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth” (Deuteronomy 14:2 ESV).

Certainly, there is partial truth in the doctrine that all believers can come to God. Some who came to me requesting prayer also heard God’s voice at times – they prayed on various matters and received answers. Where the line is drawn, I haven’t determined. We have gone only as the Lord led us. I do know that healings, receiving the Holy Spirit, deliverance from devils, and solving problems are areas where people have asked me to mediate, and God has clearly and wonderfully answered. Is it any virtue of our own when God answers? Not at all. However, James said:

“The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous one avails much. Elijah was a man of like passion as we are. And he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for the time of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth caused its fruit to sprout” (James 5:16-18 MKJV).

It simply is not true that all believers have identical prayer privileges at all times. God has set forth authorities and occasional privileges for all members, and He expects them to be honored. Paul says to humble ourselves and submit ourselves to one another in the fear of God (Ephesians 5:21).

What, then, of the words that there is only One Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus? The answer is that Jesus Christ is the Head, and the Man is His Body. His Body is composed of those having His Spirit. Furthermore, those in His Body who are mature reign with Him on His throne, having overcome, even as He overcame and reigns with His Father on His throne. Reigning, they mediate with Him as one, because they are also “the Man Christ Jesus.” This is a wonderful truth!

Consider the alternative to believing this doctrine: Fall in line with God’s established order and experience truly answered prayer, rather than the wrath of God that befalls the children of disobedience who despise His order and authority.

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Diabolical Doctrine 25) Women are called as ministers of God, in spiritual authority over men

In nominal Christendom, we see women everywhere presuming to be pastors, priests, evangelists, and apostles. Are they of God?

Spiritual Authority Established from Above

We don’t acknowledge any person, male or female, ordained by men as a minister of God. God’s ministers don’t come from Bible schools or seminaries. They don’t come from sectarian or denominational organizations, which are the works of men.

No, as Moses was prepared in the wilderness, as John the Baptist was prepared in the wilderness, as Paul was taken out of his denomination (Pharisees) into a “wilderness” and prepared as an apostle, so all men of God come from outside the structures and machinations of men.

As it was with Paul, who declared his ministry wasn’t from or by men, but directly by Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:1), so it is with all men called and sent forth of God to minister. Even the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the Pattern Son, wasn’t schooled in the institutions of His day. He wasn’t a product of men’s systems of ordination, whereby men presume control over the things of God and can boast of their accomplishment.

The chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?” (Matthew 21:23)

They didn’t know! Why didn’t they know? They couldn’t comprehend the authority of God, Who was nowhere to be found in their “authority-producing” institutions.

No Female Rulers over Men in the Scriptures

Concerning women, in the Scriptures there is no such thing as a female apostle, pastor, evangelist, or teacher who would exercise authority over men in terms of spiritual position or power. There isn’t one example. Women will teach children and younger women, whether they are younger in physical or spiritual age:

“Let the aged women likewise be in reverent behavior, not slanderers, not enslaved by much wine, teachers of good; that they may train the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, subject to their own husbands, that the Word of God may not be blasphemed” (Titus 2:3-5 MKJV).

Physically older women may come to believe years after women younger than them are given to teach other women. When younger women are spiritually more mature than women who are physically older, there still ought to be humility and respect accorded older people by those younger teachers.

An Exception to the Law?

Now we do have an apparent exception to the rule of women not teaching men in the Scriptures. As often is the case, the Lord has His exceptions, for two reasons that I can think of:

1) We mustn’t get too comfortable with laying down blanket laws, worshiping them instead of God. Our calling is to be primarily led of the Spirit and not slavishly following the letter.

2) Exceptions can serve as a test for us as to whether we will seek His order as reflected in the Law, or use exceptions as excuses for iniquity.

There was a prophetess called Deborah in Judges (chapters four and five) who judged Israel at one time, and that is the only example I know of in Scripture where a woman was given such prominence and singular authority, and concerning a whole nation at that. Yet it was a different authority than most assume.

Is Deborah truly an exception? She spoke the Prophetic Word of the Lord to the people concerning them and their circumstances from time to time, as she did with Barak:

Judges 4:5-7 MKJV
(5) And she lived under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in mount Ephraim. And the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment.
(6) And she sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not the LORD, the God of Israel commanded, saying, ‘Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun?
(7) And I will draw Sisera to you, the captain of Jabin’s army, at the river Kishon, together with his chariots and his multitude. And I will deliver him into your hands.’”

Barak replied to Deborah: “If you will go with me, then I will go. But if you will not go with me, I will not go” (Judges 4:8 MKJV).

Here’s what she said to Barak's conditions:

“‘I will surely go with you. But the journey that you take shall not be for your honor, for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.’ And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh” (Judges 4:9 MKJV).

It was common, even in her day and situation, that women did not take the lead or prominence. She didn’t rule over them in the way many might suppose or imagine, certainly not as did kings and commanders of armies or elders. Judges then weren’t as they seem to us today.

Consider, for example, that Samson was also a judge of Israel, as were others, yet the record shows he didn’t rule over the people (Judges chapters 13-16). The same can be said for other judges during that troublous period.

Men in Christ No Longer Ruling?

If anyone should say that in the work of the Kingdom since Christ, not even men are meant to rule over others, the Scriptures say otherwise:

“Yield to those leading you, and be submissive, for they watch for your souls, as those who must give account, that they may do it with joy and not with grief; for that is unprofitable for you” (Hebrews 13:17 MKJV).

“Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the Head of the Church; and He is the Savior of the Body. Therefore as the Church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything” (Ephesians 5:22-24 MKJV).

There is a “ruling over” in righteousness ordained for men with women that is not ordained for women with men. Bishops are overseers or superintendents who “rule over” (1 Timothy 3). Titus (not “Titia”) was instructed to speak, exhort, and rebuke with all authority (Titus 2:15). Note that Paul instructed Timothy (not “Timothea”) on leading the Body of Christ. Nowhere in the New Testament, however, do we find women ruling over men.

People bring up other supposed examples of women in authority over men, and we can point out the invalidity in all cases. However, those who choose to do their own thing will make the exception the rule, puffed up in their own minds to see themselves as the exception... and rules to them will become exceptions.

Why? They have no use for the Law of God, because they don’t love Him. It is iniquity (lawlessness). This conduct and practice serves to oppose the order, set standards, and authority of God, bringing chaos and confusion to the rebellious and ignorant, robbing them of the blessings of God.

Listen now to Paul’s words:

“Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve...” (1 Timothy 2:11-15).

“If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife...” (1 Timothy 3:1-6).

“Likewise must the deacons be grave... even so must their wives be grave.... Let deacons be the husbands of one wife...” (1 Timothy 3:8-12).

“But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God” (1 Corinthians 11:3).

“Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also says the Law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. What? Came the Word of God out from you? Or came it unto you only? If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write to you are the commandments of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 14:34-38).

Obeying God or Making Allowances for the Times?

Notice the apostle declares these things to be the commandments of the Lord, not his own commandment, not a matter of custom or situational ethics, but the ordained law and order of God. But if it was Paul’s own commandment, it would be just as valid, being he was an ambassador of God.

Specious arguments appealing to the times in those Biblical days with reference to prostitutes and other pagan women creating disorder, and causing a need for such laws are entirely without Scriptural foundation or substantiation. Men and women can explain anything away and always do if seeking their own way.

And do lawless women today presume to be any better than lawless ones in those days? If they’re so much more virtuous, what are they doing usurping leadership roles over men?

Where are the men? Where are the men of God who should discern between good and evil, between truth and error, between that which is of God and that which is of fleshly passion? Where are the men standing strong in the Lord, speaking the truth, standing up against the world and its ways, its perversities, and its anti-Christ, pagan customs and traditions?

Ashtoreth Alive and Well on Planet Earth

Instead, we have foolish men following women as little lap poodles, believing them, quoting, serving, and promoting them. Indeed, they worship Ashtoreth to this very day, only more subtly, and in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. How blind! What delusion! God have mercy! (I too, as a man, have been there, but now rejoice in God, My Savior, for He delivered me.)

Men are supporting their goddesses, be they wives or official spiritual leaders. Instead, they should be repenting of listening to Eve (who is listening to the serpent, “the subtle one”); repenting of eating from the Tree of Knowledge they call the Tree of Life. Men should become responsible and listen to God’s Voice for themselves, as well as submitting to male spiritual leaders where required.

Yes, women everywhere are usurping authority over men, but men are willingly abdicating their responsibility. Whose sin is greater? While the women are deceived (1 Timothy 2:14) and consequently deceiving, are men not deliberately sinning as did Adam?

No Difference between Men and Women since Christ?

But we have another argument coming against the truth:

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

This Scripture is interpreted to mean there is no longer any difference between men and women in the spiritual context and conduct in this world, and therefore women can do as men and vice versa. This is such absurdity as to boggle any reasonable, thinking mind. I tell you, when delusion comes, objective bystanders marvel. “How can this be?” they gasp.

Let us follow that reasoning for a few moments. Husbands can now be wives, submitting to them; wives can now be husbands, being head of the house. Does it not occur to anyone interpreting this Scripture in such a way, that the same man (Paul the apostle) who wrote Galatians 3:28 also instructed wives to submit to their husbands, that as God was the Head of Christ, and Christ the Head of the man, so man was the head of the woman?

Paul obviously didn’t have in his mind, and it wasn’t in the mind of God Who inspired him to write the Scriptures, to render sexes spiritually generic. What is this but another manifestation of pagan unisexualism? Go ahead, men, have your babies! Just remember to breast-feed them when you’re done.

“Well has Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. Howbeit in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men...’” said Jesus to the religious about their carnal piety (Mark 7:6-7).

Attendance is down so you have to try anything to get people to come in. You want the glory, and it doesn’t matter how you get it. The world does it this way, you mingle with the world, learn its ways, and adopt them in the Name of the Lord Jesus, pretending to worship Him, rationalizing that the end justifies the means. But will you know, foolish and perverse man, that the end is the means, and the means the end?

Spurious Scriptural Evidence for Equal Authority of the Sexes

Arguments are given for woman leadership over men with examples from the Scriptures, none of which are at all valid:

1) Priscilla is mentioned as leading Apollos (Acts 18:24-26), but note that she was with her husband, Aquila, and not on her own. She didn’t have an official ministry of God or authority over a man in her own right under God.

2) Phebe is given as another example of ministering (Romans 16:1-2). (Note the obvious desperate “scraping of the barrel” in these pitiful examples, in the face of the preponderant testimony of the Scriptures!) I don’t argue against ministering by women, but against the perversion of it and the usurpation of authority over men in the name of ministry. In no way does the Scripture indicate that Phebe had some sort of authority over anybody, particularly men. She had a work to do, and Paul was asking for the cooperation of others to help her get it done.

3) Women ministered unto the Lord and His disciples of their substance, again with no indication that their ministering was any kind of authority over anybody.

4) Miriam was a prophetess and, again, someone with no exercise of authority over anyone. In fact, she got a bit presumptuous at one point and God severely and publicly rebuked her, she having spoken against the anointed of God, Moses, a man. Notice that she murmured with Aaron, Moses’ older brother, yet Aaron, a man, was not punished as was she.

5) People refer to 2 John where John writes to an “elect lady.” It is suggested that she was a leader of a church. There is not so much as a hint of such a notion. Those who insist on their way will grasp at straws and pervert themselves, “wresting the Scriptures to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:16).

Is it so hard to believe that this lady was simply an elect lady, that is, chosen of God, as are all believers (Matthew 24:24,31; Luke18:7; Romans 8:33; Colossians 3:12), and that she had some children who also believed, for which John expressed thankfulness? Did she not have a believing sister whose children passed on their greetings to her (verse 13)?

6) It is recorded that Philip had four daughters that prophesied (Acts 21:8-9). That is all it says about them. From this passage alone, it is assumed that these virgin daughters were preachers, teachers, pastors, evangelists, or in a position of authority over men.

The Office of a Prophet versus the Gift of Prophecy

Allow me to clarify some things:

1) There is a false definition of prophesying. It is not preaching. Preaching and prophesying are similar, yet different. One may preach while not prophesying, and one may prophesy while not preaching. One may also preach and prophesy at the same time.

Preaching is that which comes from the mind, being that which has been learned, howbeit through Divine revelation, ideally speaking. Prophesying is speaking forth words under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of Christ, fresh from the Spirit, intended for that moment and circumstance. A preacher is not necessarily a prophet, and a prophet is not necessarily a preacher.

2) There is confusion between the gift of prophecy and the office of a prophet. All believers are prophets and prophetesses by spiritual nature:

“And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said to me, ‘See, do not do it! I am your fellow servant, and of your brothers who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy’” (Revelation 19:10 MKJV).

In terms of the gift, we are all encouraged to prophesy (1 Corinthians 14:1). But not all are called to the office of a prophet. Apostles, pastors, teachers, and evangelists can and do prophesy, but they are not prophets. Paul was an apostle, he prophesied, but he didn’t claim to be, nor was he, a prophet. One by the name of Agabus came prophesying to him. That Agabus was a prophet... and he wasn’t preaching (Acts 21:10-11).

3) Prophesying isn’t necessarily, or even mainly, telling the future. Rather it is speaking the hidden. It is speaking the spiritual essence, the hidden reality of things. It is expressing that to which the carnal mind, the flesh, has no access.

There is no Biblical evidence whatsoever, directly nor indirectly, that Philip’s daughters held a spiritual office. And it can’t be assumed that because Philip was an evangelist, his daughters followed in his calling. Today we have self- and man-appointed evangelists who have taken their daughters to work the works of man with them, proselytizing in the Name of Jesus Christ, calling their daughters evangelists. It is false. Don’t be deceived.

Philip’s daughters simply had the gift of prophecy operating through them in, and by, the Spirit of God. And by no means is the gift of prophecy to be lightly esteemed. As it is written, “Despise not prophesyings” (1 Thessalonians 5:20).

Examine the Scriptural Record and Trust It

Tell me, dear seeker, how many of the heads of the 12 tribes of Israel were women? How many of the prophets in the Old Testament writing the Scriptures were women? How many of the recorded prophets sent to confront Israel on its sins were women? By whom was the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) written, a man or a woman? How many women became kings of Israel? And of the women who ruled, who among them was righteous? (Athaliah was the only woman who ever sat on the throne, and she was a wicked usurper.)

Of all the apostles Jesus Himself chose, how many were women? Of all the pastors and elders Paul established, appointed or directed Timothy and Titus to appoint, how many were women? Of all the books of the Bible written in the New Testament, how many were by women? How many references are there in Scripture as to husbands submitting to their wives, and how many references otherwise?

And when angels appeared to mankind, were they referred to as male or female? Is God Himself referred to as male or female? Was Jesus Christ born a man or a woman? Case closed? If not, there is no reasoning, no sufficient amount of evidence or proof that would suffice, and I am found speaking to sons and daughters of Belial.

Have you seen some of the abominable artwork in museums wherein Christ is depicted as a woman on the cross, naked and bare-breasted? I bring this up to make the point that all those who indulge in the more subtle female usurpations of authority over men, as discussed in this paper, are in nature not a whole lot different. The lawless won’t like to hear this, but who expected them to do so? Yet “the humble will hear thereof...and be glad!”

Subtle Worldly Societal Influence Prevalent

Today’s liberal thinking and feminist philosophies have made greater subtle inroads into society’s and our perspectives than we realize. Lawlessness and rebellion abound on every side. It is asserted by the independent and rebellious “progressive, modern thinkers” that we must grow with the times, that we mustn’t be archaic, legalistic sticks-in-the-mud.

Let it be known that the Law of the Lord is eternal (Psalm 119:44); it was and still is holy (Romans 7:12); it has never been done away (Matthew 5:18), except in the minds of the children of iniquity; and it continues as “a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path” (Psalm 119:105) to this very hour. It is time we grounded ourselves, not in men’s ways and thoughts, but God’s, doing not their will(s), but His and only His. Therein alone is the peace and victory.

Consider the alternative to believing this sexist (yes, sexist in reverse) doctrine: You will receive peace and order God’s way and His subsequent blessing under true authority from above.

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Diabolical Doctrine 26) All flesh is clean for eating

“For I am the LORD Who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. This is the law of the animals, and of the fowl, and of every living creature that moves in the waters, and of every creature that swarms on the earth, to make a difference between the unclean and the clean, and between the creature that may be eaten and the creature that may not be eaten” (Leviticus 11:45-47 MKJV).

Question: Why do you think nominal Christendom, for the most part, celebrates Easter and eats ham instead of lamb, goat, or beef? Think about it.

It’s taught and believed that Christians are free from the Law of Moses and can eat anything they choose, because the apostle Paul said, “Every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: for it is sanctified by the Word of God and with prayer” (1 Timothy 4:4-5)

If you’re willing to stand by that interpretation of Scripture, how about eating some roast skunk? Or some rat, mouse, snake, owl, hawk, stork, vulture, cockroaches, or flies? For a vegetable side dish, how about a poison ivy salad or fresh dieffenbachia leaves dressed with cyanide? (Realize, the word “creature” or “created thing” includes not only animal but also vegetable.)

If that doesn’t sound ridiculous enough (not that my thinking is ridiculous, but to show you how ridiculous the notion of eating all things is), let me go further. For a drink with your meal, take the product of a cow’s body. No, not the milk… the urine. Now you have a meal according to your doctrine. You who argue with God’s intent and counsel, eat your meal or eat your words; your choice.

According to the Scriptures, eating skunk is no worse than eating pig, shrimp, mussels, scallops, clams, shark, lobster, crab, or octopus. Yet, while many won’t eat skunk, they wouldn’t hesitate to eat some of these others.

Is it a matter of culture? To be sure, other cultures will eat every creature in existence. But why does Western, Judeo-Christian culture not eat some of them? For those who received and believed the Scriptures, there’s a foundational reason for the difference in diet.

From a nutritional standpoint, many experts will tell you shellfish are scavengers, bottom feeders; they eat the remains and wastes (yes, fecal matter) of the various creatures of the waters. You eat what they eat when you eat them.

Credible nutritionists will tell you pork is one of the worst meats you can eat, of those Westerners regularly consume. Note how they have to treat pork products against parasites, unlike beef, lamb, venison, buffalo, or other meats pronounced clean by the Bible. Pork is also difficult to digest.

We live near a pig farm and know people who have worked there. Frequently, they throw hog carcasses on the field, and coyotes come and feed on them. The coyotes are mangy, sickly, and die a slow, unpleasant death, eaten of parasites. Workers witnessing the operation declare they would never eat pork.

What, then, was Paul’s intent and meaning in the words regularly quoted by proponents of eating pork and other unclean meats? There are clear qualifications in that verse as to what one can eat. He said, “…for it is sanctified by the Word of God.” The Word of God in that day was the Old Testament. The Word of God was very clear on what was clean and unclean and never contradicted itself. By prayer we bless the food before us, but can we bless that which the Lord has forbidden or called unclean? Obviously not.

Which brings us to another passage used to excuse men to do their own pleasure and consequently destroy themselves:

Acts 10:9-16 MKJV
(9) On the next day, as these went on the road, and drawing near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour.
(10) And he became very hungry and desired to eat. But while they made ready, an ecstasy fell on him.
(11) And he saw the heaven opened and a certain vessel like a sheet coming down to him, being bound at the four corners and let down to the earth;
(12) in which were all the four-footed animals of the earth, and the wild beasts, and the reptiles, and the birds of the heaven.
(13) And a voice came to him, saying, “Rise, Peter! Kill and eat!”
(14) But Peter said, “Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”
(15) And the voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has made clean, you do not call common.”
(16) This happened three times, and the vessel was received up again into the heaven.

People have taken this passage to justify a lawless diet, but this passage isn’t at all talking about diet. Peter was being instructed to go to the Gentiles whom the Jews deemed unclean, an unholy people, which they were.

Acts 10:17-22 MKJV
(17) And while Peter doubted within himself what the vision which he had seen might be, even behold, the men who were sent from Cornelius had asked for Simon's house and stood on the porch.
(18) And they called and asked if Simon whose last name is Peter was staying there.
(19) And while Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you.
(20) Therefore arise and go down and go with them without doubting, for I have sent them.”
(21) And going down to the men, those sent to him from Cornelius, Peter said, “Behold, I am the one you are seeking. For what reason have you come?”
(22) And they said, “Cornelius the centurion, a just man and one who fears God, and one of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear words from you.”

Arriving at Cornelius’ home, Peter said, “You know that it is an unlawful thing for a man, a Jew, to keep company with, or to come near to, one of another nation. But God has shown me not to call any man common or unclean. Therefore I came without complaint, being sent for. I ask, then, for what reason have you sent for me” (Acts 10:28-29 MKJV).

The vision was an instruction by parable to Peter to now take the Gospel to the Gentiles. He wasn’t instructed to join them in their thoughts and ways that made them unclean. Rather, he was sent to convert and instruct them to a godly way of life (read Acts 10 and 11).

What of the instructions James and the elders gave to the Gentiles to counter the influence of the “Judaizers” as recorded in Acts 15? Were they told that they shouldn’t eat pork or skunk? No. But consider that the passage clarifies their thinking:

“For Moses of old time has in every city them that preach him, being red in the synagogues every Sabbath day” (Acts 15:21).

In other words, they were saying, “These are the more urgent matters - do these for now until you grow and are able to handle more, and as you do, you’ll do well. The Law of Moses is available to you when you’re ready for more.”

Are we suggesting all the Law of Moses was to be kept? No. There are both ceremonial laws fulfilled and laws that continue as good counsel.

The Lord didn’t lay everything on me at once when I first began to walk with Him. I was so foreign to Him and His ways that if I had tried to change all my habits and customs at once, I would have imploded. It is impossible. It was very difficult for me to change diet habits; it was difficult forsaking my family, my church, my beliefs, and my friends; it was difficult ceasing to celebrate Christmas. The list goes on.

It took years to learn and change. This change is impossible and unnatural for anybody all at once, as it’s impossible for a newborn to be an adult overnight. But some things have precedence over others. It is a matter of priorities. We need to realize the Gentiles were alien to the things of God.

The nature of creation didn’t change by the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Pigs didn’t suddenly become lambs. The Levitical priesthood, animal sacrifices, ceremonies, and ordinances of the Law of Moses ended, however, because the prophetic shadow laws (laws signifying things to come) were fulfilled in Christ. At the cross, God was finished with those particular symbolisms. Jesus Christ fulfilled their message and purpose forever.

Is it an absolute law not to eat the unclean? It is law, but absolute, or for everyone at all times, no. Many things aren’t absolute though we try to make them so.

God has often made exceptions to the rules. For instance, He commanded the children of Israel to enter and take the land of Canaan and dwell there, yet two and a half tribes were permitted to dwell outside Canaan. God commanded the Israelites not to murder, yet they were commanded to slay man, woman, and child of the Canaanites. Jews were not to marry women of the nations around them, yet by God’s will, Samson married a Philistine (Judges 14:1-4).

Why does God have His exceptions? To confound us for good, lest at any time we worship the Law rather than the Lawgiver.

Why are so many people sick? Isn’t it partly because of the things they consume physically, as well as mentally and spiritually? Why do people have heart disease, cancer, diabetes, cavities, gallstones, kidney stones, appendicitis, arthritis, mental diseases, worms, parasites, and a host of other maladies? One of the causes is certainly diet, part of which is made up of unclean meats.

God has promised blessings, like health and protection, for true believers. How is it nominal Christians are all sick, suffering, and dying with those who don’t profess faith in Christ. It’s because those Christians don’t believe and obey God, notwithstanding their profession of faith in Christ. (Read God Heals Today, His Way.)

People often defend unclean diet with the Lord’s words from Scripture, “Not that which goes into the mouth defiles a man; but that which comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man” (Matthew 15:11 MKJV). Then let them partake of a tall glass of whiskey and a cigarette, perhaps with some heroine or crack cocaine, and see how they’re affected and how they affect others.

Obviously, Jesus didn’t mean what one might like to think. He wasn’t changing the Law, as has been taught by ignorant and thoughtless teachers. But the simple and the lawless will do as they please and destroy themselves, while the wise will fear and save themselves from the wrath to come.

Consider the alternative to this doctrine: Why not prosper, eating that which is clean? Doesn’t even knowledge in the world and science and nature teach the folly of eating the unclean?

Read Christian Physical Diet.

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Diabolical Doctrines: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3