Democracy can be almost synonymous with Christianity in the minds of many. Take the political “religious right” in the United States, for example, which holds sacred the ideal of a democratic republic. The truth is that democracy (whether in the form of a republic or not) is a Gentile government, not theocratic, and therefore not Christian.

The Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman, and all other empires throughout man’s history have been heathen governments. Communism, socialism, and all other forms of government other than theocracy are carnal, of men and of men's wisdom. Democracy happens to be the bottom of the barrel, as represented by the feet of iron and clay of the image Nebuchadnezzar dreamed about, as recorded in Daniel chapter 2. Believe it: The preceding empires were greater, the head of gold having been the greatest.

Still, these are all under the sovereignty and will of God Who, the Scriptures declare, made Nebuchadnezzar the head of gold. Daniel said God had given Nebuchadnezzar a kingdom, power, strength, and glory. It is by God's determination that all kingdoms, nations, and rulers either exist or cease.

So today we live in the days of the feet and toes of clay and iron - strength and weakness - the two unable to adhere by nature, destined to crumble under the power of God. These are the democracies, the Western nations which have generally ruled the world at present. But as some can perceive, those days are also over. The image is on its way down, never to rise again.

Question: It was around 600 B.C. that Nebuchadnezzar had the dream and Daniel interpreted it. How could anyone know the Medes and Persians would defeat and succeed Babylon? How could anyone know that Alexander would come conquering the Medes and Persians and that his kingdom would break up into four parts? How could anyone know Rome was to overcome the Greek empire?

The events this dream foretold extended more than two millennium into the future. Yet there it was, recorded in Scripture with perfect accuracy and preserved to this very day, 2600 years later. What reasonable person can argue against God’s doings? The world is filled with unreasonable people, however, who are corrupted by sin, their minds degenerated to the point of great unreason.

Now we’re at the time of the feet and toes of iron and clay, called the democracies. But think of it - ought the sheep to rule? Is that not the case in a democracy? The people elect whom they will. The government is representative and a product of the people. In a democracy, ideally speaking, if elected representatives don’t satisfy those who elect them, they’re replaced by the people. The ruled are granted opportunity to choose their rulers. Is the majority right? Much can be said about how democracy is ineffective, counterproductive, and destructive.

In communism, the wolf rules; in democracy, the sheep rule; in theocracy, the Shepherd rules. Which would you choose? Man has been given thousands of years of opportunity to do things his way, presumably independent of God, to learn folly and its consequences. He has now run out of ways and means, courting destruction in these last days as never before, and now is the time of the Kingdom of kingdoms to be established, and that, forever.

“And in the days of these kings, the God of Heaven shall set up a Kingdom which shall never be destroyed. And the Kingdom shall not be left to other peoples, but it shall crush and destroy all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever” (Daniel 2:44 MKJV).

HalleluYah! We will have the Shepherd calling the shots, and any competitors or gainsayers will no longer be able to gain the ascendancy and impose their wills upon people. Their thrones will be forever taken away, and the throne of righteousness upon which the Lord of lords, the King of Righteousness, sits will be established forever, reigning supreme.

Then will be learned the value of living according to God's laws, of submitting to His authority. Swords will be beaten into plowshares, oppression will cease, and true peace, without paper treaties, will prevail. Suffering and sorrow will be no more, and tears will be wiped away. Doors will no longer need to be locked, and insurance will be unnecessary. Lawyers won’t prosper at the expense of clients in bogged down courts where justice is at best a hope and no guarantee.

Tyrannical institutions will cease to exist, and the wicked will be uprooted from power forever. What a wonderful day is upon us - a day of theocracy wherein God rules, and men live in harmony with Him and with one another - a fearful nightmare turned into a dream come true! Glory halleluYah!

Consider the alternative to this doctrine: Vote for God, not men; acknowledge the right of the Shepherd, not the sheep or wolves, to reign over all.

Read in our section “Thy Kingdom Come” – God’s Political Perspective, especially “The Voting Trilogy”: For Whom Do We Vote?, Why Do We Vote for Jesus Christ?, and How Do We Vote for the Lord Jesus Christ?

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Diabolical Doctrine 28) Family unity is a hallmark of true Christianity

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth. I did not come to send peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s foes shall be those of his own household” (Matthew 10:34-36 MKJV).

“Anything that divides is not of God,” the saying goes, in churches. But where does that saying come from? Does it come from God, or does it come from the realm of darkness, from men jealously preserving their kingdoms? It comes from Satan, who savors the things of men, not of God (Matthew 16:23).

We all want peace and unity; the whole world wants it. The problem is that the world would have it on its own terms, independent of God. But can there be lasting and meaningful unity without Truth and the Law of God established as the foundation in the hearts of all concerned?

While the flesh seeks to be comforted and assured, the Kingdom of God comes to notify all flesh that unity for unity’s sake and peace for peace’ sake won’t last or please God. Truly, unity for unity’s sake, or anything for its own sake, is idolatry. Wasn’t the ambition of unity the problem at the tower of Babel?

Genesis 11:1-9 MKJV
(1) And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech.
(2) And it happened, as they traveled from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar. And they lived there.
(3) And they said to one another, “Come, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar.
(4) And they said, “Come, let us build us a city and a tower, and its top in the heavens. And let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered upon the face of the whole earth.”
(5) And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of Adam had built.
(6) And the LORD said, “Behold! The people is one and they all have one language. And this they begin to do. And now nothing which they have imagined to do will be restrained from them.
(7) Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they cannot understand one another’s speech.”
(8) So the LORD scattered them abroad from that place upon the face of all the earth. And they quit building the city.
(9) Therefore the name of it is called Babel; because the LORD confused the language of all the earth there. And from there the LORD scattered them abroad on the face of all the earth.

Wow! Isn’t that a dart in the heart of the notion that unity is so important to God?

What about family unity? There isn’t one testimony in Scripture that promotes it; quite the contrary. Jesus Christ said:

Matthew 10:34-39 MKJV
(34) Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth. I did not come to send peace, but a sword.
(35) For I have come to set a man against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
(36) And a man's foes shall be those of his own household.
(37) He [or she] who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he [or she] who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
(38) And he [or she] who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me.
(39) He who finds his life shall lose it. And he who loses his life for My sake shall find it.

Can it be any plainer than that? The fact is that when Truth is introduced into the midst of any group of people, and those people are divided thereby, it is because they have had a visitation by the Lord. Truth comes only from Him, for He alone is the Truth (John 14:6).

It was the Lord Who disunited the people at Babel (Genesis 11).

It was the Lord Who called Abraham out from his kinfolk (Genesis 12:1).

It was the Lord Who divided his family: Hagar and Ishmael, from Sarah and Isaac (Galatians 4:29-30).

It was the Lord Who divided Isaac’s sons, when still in the womb (Romans 9:10-13).

It was the Lord Who set conflict in Jacob’s house between Joseph and his brothers (Genesis 50:15-20).

On the other hand we have the Pharisees, whom the Lord described as children of the Devil, having unity. How else could they have agreed to be Pharisees, members in common of a sect? They were a family of sorts, as are many groups. So while division isn’t necessarily an evil thing, unity isn’t necessarily a virtue.

When the Lord calls a soul out of the world to Himself, those from whose company that person is called are suddenly about to lose their loved one, friend, or companion. It’s not only a moment of decision for the called-out one, but a moment of division for the other side.

Those of us the Lord has called and separated have often wished that those who had been with us might come with us. But where, then, would be the test of the quality of our obedience? Where would be the proof of our sincerity? Where would be the forsaking of all things for the Lord? Where would be the cross?

As Jesus said:

“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.... So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26-27, 33).

The sword of the Lord divides loved ones.

There are exceptions in the Scriptures to the rule of people being called alone. In Acts 10, we have Cornelius’ household believing. In Acts 16, we have the jailer’s household believing. Paul makes reference to having baptized the household of Stephanas. However, this isn’t the norm. Jesus Himself was divided from His own household. It says that even His brothers didn’t believe Him (John 7:5).

When the Lord lays His hand on someone, it’s to call that one out of an earthly family, into a Heavenly one, from a carnal one to a spiritual one. Jesus is calling one to life. He’s serving notice to mankind that it’s not about this world.

He notifies us that the Kingdom of God isn’t about the things of this world. The fixation upon, or the salvation of, that which is transitory isn’t where it’s at. Earthly families are transitory.

How about the example of Jesus and His family?

Mark 3:31-35 MKJV
(31) Then His brothers and His mother came. And standing outside, they sent to Him, calling Him.
(32) And the crowd sat about Him, and they said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking for You.”
(33) And He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?”
(34) And He looked around on those who sat about Him, and said, “Behold My mother and My brothers!
(35) For whoever does the will of God, the same is My brother and My sister and My mother.”

While they were mending their fishing nets with their father, Jesus called James and John to follow Him. They immediately left the boat and their father. How did their father feel? There he was, suddenly without sons to help him. If their father agreed, such an occasion wouldn’t be so difficult. But what if their parents didn’t agree? What if they didn’t understand, or weren’t willing to accept, what was happening?

The sword of the Lord divides loved ones.

What could have appeared more reasonable than for those sons to have remained with, and served, their parents dutifully?

There was a man whom the Lord bade to follow Him. The man replied, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” The Lord responded, “Let the dead bury the dead.” Apparently, this man’s parents didn’t have faith. To the Kingdom of God, they were dead. But the man was being called out from them to live and serve to bring life to others.

The sword of the Lord divides loved ones.

Another man asked to first bid farewell to his family. A noble request, right? What did the Lord say in response? “No one who has put his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:59-62)

The sword of the Lord divides loved ones.

What could be more proper, necessary, and noble than to take care of one’s parents in their old age? After all, the Fifth Commandment says we are to honor father and mother. But that wasn’t the Lord’s priority for His disciples.

Were the ones called to discipleship truly concerned about their parents, or were they struggling with having to part with them? The sword of the Lord divides loved ones.

The Lord’s command may sound coldhearted to many. Yes, we are to honor father and mother, as much as we’re able, but when the Lord calls one to service and fellowship with Him, His call is the priority, above His general commandments.

Not that He calls you to break the Law - God forbid. Sometimes, however, in testing one’s obedience, it will appear to be so, even as when Abraham was called upon by the Lord to offer up as a burnt offering his son Isaac, his promised miracle son (Genesis 22:1-3).

Curiously, the command to Abraham even seemed to call for an abominable act the heathen idolaters practised - “passing their sons through the fire” - sacrificing their children. Furthermore, it seemed to come against God’s own Word in Genesis 9:6, “Whosoever sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed.”

But Abraham knew God was speaking to him, and he obeyed. Nevertheless, Isaac was spared. So with parents, wives, children, and siblings forsaken; there will come a time when they will also be spared. God will take care of them.

Eventually, those forsaken will know their loved one was called of God and was faithful to that call. It may not be in this life that they know so, but know it they will. My father didn’t know I was called of God until he entered the next world, and then he marveled.

But what if the called-out one fails to come out, succumbing instead to the pleas of the loved ones to be forsaken? Such is a disaster, a tragedy in all certainty. One of the reasons one is called out is because that one is called upon to be a sacrificial lamb on behalf of those he leaves behind. The family will ultimately be affected by his response. In the called one’s unbelieving attempt to spare his family sorrow, the family will perish instead, as well as the one who declined the call.

Not that God is ever limited by any persons’ lack of obedience. The grip of the flesh is indeed formidable, the power of family blood and bond awesome, but where sin abounds, grace abounds more. Where the power of family blood is great, the power of the blood of Jesus is greater. Where the earthly father tugs at one’s heart strings, the Heavenly Father creates a new heart.

If family togetherness in this world was so important, why did God use family division and strife to separate Joseph from his brothers and father for many years? While Joseph’s brothers meant it for evil, and it was evil, God meant it for good (Genesis 50:20).

Why did Joseph’s father not have the allowance of at least knowing his son was alive? Why was he subjected to mourning many years over his son’s alleged death while his beloved son was yet alive?

God does things no man can understand. The Creator doesn’t answer to His creature, and no creature can prevent Him. Wasn’t it for good that Joseph was taken captive into Egypt? Not only was his family saved, it was formed into a nation! Egypt and other nations were also spared in the famine because of what God did with Joseph. There was a mighty parable at work in Joseph’s life, telling us of the reconciliation of all things by the Seed of Abraham.

Once Jacob’s family became a nation and cried out in pain because of bondage in Egypt, there was a child born and severed from his family, destined for that day when the Lord would deliver Israel. When he was forty, Moses had to flee Egypt for his life, leaving his family behind for forty years; it is likely there were some he never saw in this world again.

Did Moses and his family grieve? Certainly, even if they believed. There’s always sorrow in parting with loved ones. But these are God’s ways, and who can argue with Him?

The sword of the Lord divides loved ones.

These things are impossible to accept by the flesh, but the flesh is called to be killed, not placated; it is to be denied and forsaken. That’s why it isn’t easy. Indeed, it’s impossible, as Jesus said (Matthew 19:26). The flesh will fight for its life. It will compromise, plead, reason, weep, threaten, promise, sacrifice, even “love” (more on that ahead), and do anything to preserve itself and its interests.

The last thing the flesh will accept is death on the cross of Christ, in whatever form it comes. While the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak, but His grace is sufficient, His strength made perfect in weakness. The impossible happens, and the called-out one becomes faithful to the call. The called-out one becomes a chosen one of God. Can anything more wonderful happen to any creature?

Can anything be more wonderful than to hear the Lord finally say, “Well done, called, chosen, and faithful one - enter into the joy of the Father”? Can there be anything better than to have the pleasure and approval of the Heavenly Father?

Yes, the price is great - life itself - but the price pales in comparison to the reward waiting for that faithful one who takes up the cross.

As Paul said, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).

Consider the sufferings Paul endured. Not only did he have to walk away from family and friends, appearing to them as a heretical traitor and fool, he endured great hardships, as the Lord forewarned or promised him by Ananias - “For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My Name’s sake” (Acts 9:16).

When the Lord called me out, bringing division between my family and me, it was a painful battle. Blood and tears were shed on both sides of the sword. But today I can say it was far more than worth the cost. I’m so thankful the Lord didn’t give up on me when I faltered and failed. I’m so thankful it wasn’t up to me to gain the victory:

“Faithful is He Who called you, Who also will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24 MKJV).

He’s faithful now. He’ll never leave you or forsake you in your trial (Hebrews 13:5), though at times it may appear He has. He’ll make your calling good even when you doubt. As it says:

“If we do not believe Him, yet He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13 MKJV).

But Paul also says: “If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us” (2 Timothy 2:12 MKJV).

It’s death to forsake loved ones; however, as Paul declares, “For faithful is the Word, for if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him” (2 Timothy 2:11 MKJV).

Is family unity a Christian virtue, a mark of godliness? Not necessarily, and certainly not in and of itself, as many naming the Name of Christ believe. When there is a call to walk with God and to separate oneself unto Him, family unity isn’t a virtue, but a vice. To preserve family ties and favors over God is idolatry; it is rebellion, which is as witchcraft (1 Samuel 15:23).

The sword of the Lord divides loved ones.

The battle becomes complicated when those needing to be forsaken claim to love God and to believe in and worship Him. Surely, Saul of Tarsus had that very same battle. His family most likely provided him with that great theological education he was so privileged to have, even to study under the famous Gamaliel. And now he would “throw it all away for some cult”?!

(You can believe that Jesus and His followers were known as a divisive cult - that which doesn’t conform to the establishment or societal norm.)

Those who truly follow the Lord Jesus must necessarily bear the reproach of being different and excluded:

“For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the Holy of Holies by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, so that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach” (Hebrews 13:11-13 MKJV).

John 15:18-20 MKJV
(18) If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.
(19) If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
(20) Remember the word that I said to you, The servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept My saying, they will also keep yours.

Paul declared:

Philippians 3:7-11 MKJV
(7) But whatever things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
(8) But no, rather, I also count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for Whose sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them to be dung, so that I may win Christ
(9) and be found in Him; not having my own righteousness, which is of the Law, but through the faith of Christ, the righteousness of God by faith,
(10) that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death;
(11) if by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead.

Your family will insist they love you, but truly, as genuine and sincere as their love may seem to be, it isn’t the agape love of God, that ultimate spiritual love. It is, rather, a familial love, a protective, self-sacrificing, yet selfish kind of love.

“If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:19 MKJV).

The sword of the Lord divides loved ones.

“For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax-collectors do so?” (Matthew 5:46-47 MKJV)

There is a love among men even animals possess in certain aspects. She-bears have a jealous love for their cubs, as do cows for their calves, female cats for their kittens, and birds for their young. It is a fleshly, or brotherly, affectionate love, at best, that mankind has for one another.

Agape love is far above man’s love and comes only from God the Father. He is Agape Love. For the Love of God, we must heed the call away from family, and be prepared to be alone.

The sword of the Lord divides loved ones.

The father of our faith, Abraham, was called alone. As it says, “Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for I called him alone, and blessed him and increased him” (Isaiah 51:2).

The Lord had first appeared to him, saying, “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you... and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Genesis 12:1-3).

Was Abraham’s family heathen? It’s widely reported in nominal Christendom, and among Jews, that Abraham’s family were idolaters, believing in many gods, that God separated him from them for that reason, calling him to worship the One True God. But didn’t Abraham seek a wife for Isaac from among his own family? Did he not strictly warn his servant to be sure that Isaac married out of those from whom he had come out (Genesis 24)?

Why would Abraham desire Isaac’s contact with pagan worshippers? Even Isaac’s son, Jacob, was sent to receive a wife from Abraham’s family (Genesis 28:1-7). Jacob took two wives, in fact, sisters, Rachel and Leah, and their two handmaids; from these four women would come the twelve tribes of Israel. Who can understand the ways of God?

If family unity were such an issue, how is it Abraham had to expel his own firstborn son, Ishmael, with his mother, Hagar? Yes, we know the significance of that event, with hindsight and revelation from God through the apostle Paul (Galatians 4:22-31). But consider that it was family, and God worked His will at the cost of family unity.

The sword of the Lord divides loved ones.

If family unity were so important, why would God divide the brothers, Jacob and Esau, when yet in the womb, appointing them to conflict in the future (Genesis 5:22-26; Romans 9:10-14)?

When it came time for Jacob to receive the blessing, as predetermined by God, how is it that Rebekah, Isaac’s wife and Jacob’s mother, moved Jacob to deceive his own father? As a result, Esau sought to kill Jacob, who was then forced to flee. If family unity were so important, why would God do things this way, coming against the principle and essence of family unity?

If family unity were an issue, how is it Gideon came into conflict with his father when the call of God came on him? The conflict was so sharp, Gideon’s life was on the line (Judges 6:25-32). Consider that God could have appointed someone other than a man’s own son to tear down his father’s altar of Baal. He could have done it any number of ways. But He didn’t.

Was the Lord trying Gideon to see if he would forsake his father? Gideon certainly had to do so.

The sword of the Lord divides loved ones.

Family unity on earth isn’t what it’s all about. Peter and the apostles declared they had forsaken all for Christ:

Matthew 19:27-29 MKJV
(27) Then answering Peter said to Him, “Behold, we have forsaken all and have followed You. Therefore what shall we have?”
(28) And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory, you also shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
(29) And everyone who left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My Name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.”

Obedience to God, walking with and worshipping Him in spirit and in truth, is what it’s all about. It’s not about having and treasuring even those good God-given gifts, but about worshipping God, loving Him with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength.

God is faithful. He’s a very generous rewarder and He walks the talk; He does what He expects of those He calls and chooses. He didn’t spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. “How shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” asks Paul (Romans 8:32-33).

John 12:24-26 MKJV
(24) Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit.
(25) He who loves his life shall lose it. And he who hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal.
(26) If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there also My servant shall be. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.

Consider the alternative: Choose one way, and you lose everything; choose the other, and you gain everything. You can’t have it both ways.

Read Choose This Day Between Family and God, The Cross: Only the Death Sentence Will Avail, and The False Promise of Man’s Unity.

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Diabolical Doctrine 29) Spouses are equal in Christian marriage

“My wife and I have an equal partnership. We consult each other on everything of any importance. I do nothing without her, or she without me. If we aren’t in agreement on something, we leave it. We’re one flesh, as the Lord said we should be. I don’t tell her what to do, and she doesn’t tell me what to do. We work as a team. I don’t believe in domination, like, ‘I’m the boss, your head; you do as I say; submit.’ We have a great relationship, don’t we, dear?”

To many nominal Christians, this attitude and approach sounds like pious egalitarianism. Many pastoral ministries in the world apparently operate by this philosophy. Let’s express this issue by the “scriptures of men” and compare them to the Scriptures of God:

“Then the LORD God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make an equal partner suitable for him’” (Genesis 2:18 Worldly Translation - henceforth referenced as “WT”).

“And the LORD God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him’” (Genesis 2:18 MKJV).

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1 Peter 3:1-7 WT
(1) Likewise, wives, know that you are equal to your own husbands, so that if any do not obey the Word, they may also be won without the Word by the harmonious egalitarian conduct of the wives,
(2) having witnessed your authoritative behavior in the fear of God.
(3) Of whom let not be the adorning of garments, or outward braiding of hair and wearing of gold, or of putting on clothing,
(4) but let it be the hidden woman of the heart, in that which is corruptible, the bold and assertive spirit, which is of great price in the sight of God.
(5) For so once indeed the holy women hoping in God adorned themselves, being in equal partnership with their own husbands;
(6) Even as Sarah and Abraham obeyed and called each other ‘lord’; whose children you became, doing good and fearing no terror.
(7) Likewise, husbands, live together according to knowledge, giving honor to the wife as an equal vessel, the female, and as truly being co-heirs in every way together of the grace of life, not cutting off your prayers.

1 Peter 3:1-7 MKJV
(1) Likewise, wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, so that if any do not obey the Word, they may also be won without the Word by the conduct of the wives,
(2) having witnessed your chaste behavior in the fear of God.
(3) Of whom let not be the adorning of garments, or outward braiding of hair and wearing of gold, or of putting on clothing,
(4) but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, the meek and quiet spirit, which is of great price in the sight of God.
(5) For so once indeed the holy women hoping in God adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own husbands;
(6) as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord; whose children you became, doing good and fearing no terror.
(7) Likewise, husbands, live together according to knowledge, giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel, the female, as truly being co-heirs together of the grace of life, not cutting off your prayers.

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“Wives, you need no longer submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. It is a new day. You ought to submit to each other as a team. It is more blessed to be an equal partnership. However, if any should desire to submit, take turns...as unto yourselves” (Ephesians 5:22 WT).

“Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as unto the Lord” (Ephesians 5:22 MKJV).

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“Let both men and women be silent in the churches: for it is not permitted unto men to speak if women cannot. For neither are commanded to be in subjection, as the Law no longer applies – it has forever been done away. Let all things be done with just balance. However, if one wishes to speak, let all speak, that there may be fairness and equity in the house of God... better to have confusion than inequality. And if they desire to learn anything, let husbands and wives ask each other at home: for it is a shame for a woman not to be allowed to speak in a church, if a man is permitted to do so. Or did the Word of God go out from you? Or did it reach only to you?” (1 Corinthians 14:34-36 WT)

“Let your women be silent in the churches; for it is not permitted unto them to speak, but to be in subjection, as the Law also says. And if they desire to learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home; for it is a shame for a woman to speak in a church. Or did the Word of God go out from you? Or did it reach only to you?” (1 Corinthians 14:34-36 MKJV)

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Why the sudden dead silence in the church? Or is it uproar?

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“Wives, you need not submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is not fit in the Lord, unless, of course, your husbands also submit unto you. Equal partnership or nothing – that’s now the way it is” (Colossians 3:18 WT).

“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord” (Colossians 3:18 KJV).

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“Children, follow the example of your mother and father; you needn’t submit any more than do your mothers. Thus you will know how to conduct yourselves when you marry one fine day. Unless more changes come, yet again” (Colossians 3:20 WT).

“Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord” (Colossians 3:20 MKJV).

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“And, servants, equality applies to you as with husbands and wives. You need not obey your masters in all things unless they treat you as masters, too. Let your obedience be with eyeservice, as menpleasers; with duality of heart, feigning to fear God” (Colossians 3:22 WT).

“Slaves, obey your masters according to the flesh in all things; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God” (Colossians 3:22 MKJV).

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“Let men and women learn in silence with all subjection to one another. But I do not allow a woman to teach, or to exercise authority over the man, or the man over the woman, but to be in silence. For both Adam and Eve were first formed. And Adam and Eve were both deceived and in the transgression. But they shall both be kept safe through childbearing, if they continue in faith and love and blessed equality, as partners - arm in arm” (1 Timothy 2:11-15 WT).

“Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I do not allow a woman to teach, or to exercise authority over a man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. But she will be kept safe through childbearing, if they continue in faith and love and holiness with sensibleness” (1 Timothy 2:11-15 MKJV).

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“But I would have you know that the Head of every man is no longer Christ (they are equal); and the head of the woman is no longer the man (they are equal partners); and the head of Christ is no longer God, but all are in equality, partners” (1 Corinthians 11:3 WT).

“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 MKJV).

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How about equality in all things?

“Does not even nature itself teach you that if a woman has long hair, it is a shame unto her? But if a man has long hair, it is a glory to him: for his hair is given him for a covering. However, if both have the same length of hair, then all is fair, unisexual, and good indeed. If you are to be equal, you ought to look equal” (1 Corinthians 11:14-15 WT).

“Does not even nature itself teach you that if man has long hair, it is a shame to him? But if a woman should have long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her in place of a veil” (1 Corinthians 11:14-15 MKJV).

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“A virtuous man is a crown to his wife: but he who causes shame is like rottenness in her bones” (Proverbs 12:4 WT).

“A woman of virtue is a crown to her husband, but she who causes shame is like rottenness in his bones” (Proverbs 12:4 MKJV).

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Now let’s see: Were these verses written recently, or were they written nearly two millennia ago or more? If long ago, have they changed? If so, when did they change, and by whose authority?

If the purpose and meaning of verses concerning marital relationships have changed with the times, pray tell what else of the Word of God must we believe to have been altered or cast off? What are we left with that we can confidently believe?

“Let us break their bands in two and cast away their cords from us” (Psalms 2:3 MKJV).

Ah, yes, this is indeed the Day of Liberty! Do you know why there are “equal partnerships” now proudly declared by husbands and wives? Because there are none! That’s right: Wives rule. Women have usurped the authority over men, and in some cases have subtly made men to feel and think that they (the men) have equality.

Men, for their part, have willingly abdicated their responsibility of faith and obedience to God by submitting to their wives, who have been deceived by the serpent from Eve’s day down to the present. Believe it. Men have used their wives as an excuse for disobeying God since Adam, who said (and still says), “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the Tree, and I did eat” (Genesis 3:12). Men do not believe, and therefore they follow their wives.

“Well, you’ll have to talk to the wife, the better half; she’s the boss, you know!” How often have we heard that said in wry humor, but as truthfully as anything can ever be said?

“I’m a good husband - I do as I’m told!” How sad and true!

“You can tell she wears the pants in the family!” The truth is told; often it is not so obvious, but no less true.

“Sorry, I think it’s a really good product, and I’m sure that it would help us a lot, and I’m all for it, but my wife says, ‘No.’ Maybe some other time, OK?” (Spoken out of earshot of the wife, of course.)

“Well, I disagree with you, Victor; my wife lets me be the head of the family, don’t you, dear?”

Why are men dying at an earlier age than women, on average? I think it’s because they’ve disobeyed God and heeded the serpent by their wives, instead. Satan became the prince of this world by seducing the wife, who then, along with her willing husband, became as God, knowing good and evil, which the serpent promised would happen. God also confirmed that such had happened (Genesis 3:5, 22). Authority was reversed from God-Adam-Eve-Serpent, to Serpent-Eve-Adam-God. Man so chose. (Read The Origin and Identity of Satan.)

Dear seeker, the serpent speaks truth, too. The problem is not what he says, but why he says it – and the “why” is what makes him a liar and murderer (John 8:44). And, man, do you think your wife speaks well? Of course she does! The Tree of Knowledge is of good as well as of evil. But do you know the difference? Not if you’re “in equality” with your wife, you don’t. I didn’t.

And, wife, do you mean well? Of course you do! And the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. You and your husband must repent of the present order of things as inspired of the Devil, obey God, and take your rightful place in His desired order of things.

Now, I’m speaking of so-called Christian marriages, people. It is the woman who decides on most of the important matters that concern them. I know. I was there for 22+ years and didn’t realize it until the Lord took me aside for 3½ years and revealed it to me. What a shock! And all those years I had the silly notion that I was head of the house! In “theorology” only.

In the Christian, Biblical context of life, we believe husbands are supposed to be the head; we assume it’s automatically that way if we’re Christians. And many of us men have tried to give the appearance that we’re the head of the house. But it really isn’t that way at all. We have deceived ourselves.

Look around you and soberly consider: What marriage can you honestly point to wherein the husband is the true head of the house? Apart from ours (and my wife and I must always be vigilant, since apprised of the reality and corrected), I know of no such marriage. Nor does anyone with whom I have discussed this topic.

In the past, my wife did the cooking, laundry, general housework, grocery shopping, and other mundane chores. We had sex regularly (she didn’t deprive me in the flesh), and I drove the car. Isn’t it interesting how driving the car can make a man feel like he’s in the driver’s seat? Like wearing pants makes you feel like you’re wearing the pants! But are you?

Equality of spouses in marriage is an evil premise. It is a doctrine from the serpent. It has nothing to do with the will of God. It is confusion.

But the Day of the Lord is now here. The Lord Jesus Christ is here to restore all things. He has defeated the enemy, and He will establish His Kingdom on earth forever. All will be in order as intended from the beginning.

Men, you need to forsake your wives. A man said to me, when I told him so, “Well, what about the Scripture that says, ‘Husbands love your wives’? How are we supposed to love them if we forsake them?”

And I answer, “Is He not the One Who also spoke the words, ‘If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whosoever does not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple’? Does He contradict Himself?”

So how are we to love our wives? Do we love them by following their lead? No, not at all. We’re to turn and believe and obey the Lord. In doing so, we must forsake our wives, stop following them, obeying them, believing them, and deceiving one another by thinking we love them because we give them their way.

Husband, whom are you really following, the Lord or your wife? Let me ask you this: Did Abraham let Sarah know he was going to sacrifice Isaac? Had he confided to her what God had commanded him only, what do you think her reaction (and decision) would have been?

Jesus said, “He that has My commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves Me...” (John 14:21). If you don’t obey God, you don’t love Him. If you don’t love Him, how can you genuinely say you love your wife? True, you may love her as one loves art or wine or music, meaning you love her for the benefits and pleasures she affords you. But that’s not the love I’m talking about. I’m talking unselfish, giving, sacrificial love, with no strings attached – agape love (1 Corinthians 13). This requires the love of God.

True love is nonexistent with fellow man if he doesn’t love God. In loving God, we love our wives, not in passion or in emotion, but in spiritual reality. Emotion flows from there, yet not to be mistaken for love itself. And emotion can exist without true love, as Hollywood and unbelievers in their relationships effectively testify.

“Marital Equalitarians” respond with another Scripture:

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

And I say to you that it was the very same person, Paul, who also said, “Wives, submit to your husbands.” Was Paul confused? Was he a deceiver, a hypocrite, or a fool? No, but those who selfishly and ignorantly distort the meaning and purpose of his words are.

Thus, they destroy themselves. They say that things appear to be unfolding as they should. But are they unfolding, or unraveling? Can you tell the difference?

“There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12).

By the way, that proverb is repeated in 16:25. You might wonder why it deserves repeating.

You may say you love God, but you’re known by your fruits, not by your thoughts, feelings, and opinions. If you forsake all for Christ’s sake, as He bids you to do, and do those things He requires of you, then yes, you do love Him. Otherwise, you don’t, no matter what you think or feel.

I didn’t love my wife all those years I followed her. I did as she said, allowed her to control me, and deceived myself into thinking I was in charge. I didn’t love her in that I wasn’t being faithful and obedient to God. I wasn’t listening to His Voice - I was listening for His Voice from her, trusting she could hear more clearly than I. I placed an unbearable burden on my wife. And if things went wrong, she surely took the blame.

I didn’t want to take any risk or make mistakes, and I shirked my responsibility. I was as the man burying the talent; I made huge, painful mistakes. Men, we’ve all been guilty of this - it is the legacy of Adam.

Fear, the opposite of faith. Trusting man instead of God. Unbelief. With Adam, you’ve turned to trust your wife, who, with Eve, has believed the serpent. And there, Satan has you. In believing him, you reap terrible consequences, often thinking you’re suffering for righteousness’ sake, or simply not knowing why you suffer. You suffer health-wise, family-wise, financially, mentally, occupationally, socially - in every way - because you don’t believe God. Believing lies and being out of God’s order, husband and wife suffer death and Hell.

What is Hell? Hell is the discomfort of being disconnected from God; it is the inability to believe and receive available good. (Read The State and Fate of Hell.)

Man, are you prepared to forsake your wife and to avail yourself of hearing from God for yourself? If you’re prepared to believe and obey Him, He’ll make Himself known to you:

“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).

If you continue taking the easy way out, believing your wife hears from the Lord for you, or that she must be in agreement with everything you hear from God, then you’ll continue to hear from, and be deceived by, the serpent. You won’t hear from the One you think to hear from and Whom you profess to serve. Nor is the wife alone to be blamed... you are the man (2 Samuel 12:7).

Here is the sequence of events, still unfolding: God spoke to the man. The serpent spoke to the woman. The woman was deceived; the man disobeyed God and followed her instead of Him. The relationship with God was cut off. Death reigned. We call this “The Fall” or “original sin.”

Jesus Christ came to reverse the situation by the cross and resurrection. Now in this last day, man must repent of looking for guidance from his wife, who is inspired by the serpent (as pious and faithful as she may seem to be). He must turn to believe and obey God. If the woman follows the man, both are restored to Paradise. From there, all things are restored in due time.

The reversal has begun. The Lord reigns supreme over all. HalleluYah!

This paper has addressed the ordained headship in a marriage. However, are women of less importance to God than men, or wives than husbands?

Not in the least. The woman is no more sinful than the man and no less able to hear from God and be chosen from a couple to believe. We have seen as many wives as husbands turn from their spouses to God. God is no respecter of persons.

As the husband mustn’t wait for the wife to agree, so the wife mustn’t hesitate to follow the Lord, though the husband doesn’t agree with her. She would hesitate to her perdition. She must forsake her husband and all things that stand in the way of obedience to her Lord and Savior.

An excellent example of a wife of faith is Abigail, who was married to Nabal. Nabal was a fool, living up to his name, while Abigail was a righteous woman. When Abigail perceived that her husband was acting in a selfish and unjust manner and consequently endangering their household, she intervened and saved her house from being slain by the sword and David from slaying with the sword. The Lord killed Nabal and gave Abigail to David in marriage. (Read 1 Samuel 25.)

Woman, in faith, you are no less. Is God calling you to Himself?

The conclusion of the matter is that we turn to the Great Husband of all, the Lord of lords, believing on Him rather than on our spouses, and taking our rightful places before Him.

Consider the alternative to believing this doctrine: Return to order and authority as God has ordained it. Repent and now let it be “The Rise,” instead of “The Fall.” Be restored to Eden and to fellowship with your Maker, your Lord and Savior!

Read The Man-Woman Dynamic and Diabolical Doctrine 25) Women are called as ministers of God, in spiritual authority over men.

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Diabolical Doctrine 30) All marriages are of God

Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32). Indeed, lies, when believed, bind and destroy us. It’s not God’s will that we should be bound or dead. Jesus Himself claimed to be the Truth; He has come so we might have life, and have it more abundantly (John 10:10). He has come to make us free - not to be lawless or selfish, doing our own thing, but to do His will.

The purpose of this writing is to set free those bound by the error that a married couple must remain together simply because they are married. Regardless of licenses, ceremonies, and approval of men, if God didn’t put man and woman together, in His sight the union is a lawless one, and the couple lives in fornication. If so, then they ought to part, discontinuing their sin rather than continuing in it.

It is commonly assumed that because two persons are married, they have come together by the will of God, not considering that men can marry against His will. It is also assumed that God’s hatred of divorce requires a blanket law for all - that divorce is wrong in all circumstances.

Based upon that conclusion, those whose marriages aren’t ordained by God in the first place are condemned to continue in their sin of licensed fornication. But many must find their way out of a situation not ordained of God. (Read Paul Cohen’s Testimony.)

Now I recognize a danger here. God forbid that I should give some fuel for the fire, encouraging those to divorce whom God has put together, but who are experiencing trials and hardships with each other. There must be an earnest seeking of the Lord by husband and wife to determine the will of God in their marriage. Did He put them together, or did He not? That is the question.

Why is there such a question? How is it that people can marry out of the will of God? And if they do marry unrighteously, are they doomed to a permanent arrangement? Are they obligated to sleep in the bed they’ve made for themselves? Does it say anywhere in the Bible that all marriages are of God and that people should never divorce?

Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what concord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has he that believes with an infidel? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the Living God; as God has said, ‘I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people’” (2 Corinthians 6:14-16).

While this warning has many applications, it must certainly be a warning to believers not to marry unbelievers. If this warning doesn’t apply to marriage, it doesn’t apply to anything. Didn’t God warn Israel not to marry wives from the Gentiles? Many are the passages in Scripture on forbidden marriages between God’s chosen and the world, both literal and figurative (Genesis 24:3; 28:1; Deuteronomy 7:3; Joshua 23:12; all of Ezra 9; Nehemiah 13:25-27).

If we sin in entering the forbidden, do we not sin in continuing? Did Paul the apostle say to the Corinthians, “Be not unequally yoked to begin with, but after you’ve done it, don’t worry about it; it no longer matters”? Is not repentance about turning around and reversing, if at all possible, the evil we have done?

You who say all marriages are of God, consider: Why would God tell us not to do something if it wasn’t possible to do it? Did He tell Adam not to partake of the Tree of Knowledge for no reason, or was it possible for him to do so? If it is possible to disobey God on a matter, He commands us not to offend, and warns us of the consequences of disobedience.

It is important to realize, however, that because of certain circumstances, a couple might just be better to remain together, though they weren’t to be married initially. There can be children involved or other circumstances and results must be evaluated before the Lord. Be honest and be prepared to obey, whatever the case.

Some think that because they acknowledge something to be wrong, the acknowledgment is all that’s needed. That’s not true repentance. Repentance isn’t merely acknowledging something to be sin; repentance is turning away from, and ceasing to, sin. Confession isn’t enough; mental assent isn’t enough; nothing less than a change in attitude and behavior will do. (Read Repentance.)

“Well, yes, now that I have AIDS (or herpes or syphilis), I recognize that promiscuity is wrong,” one says, as he or she continues to hop into bed with whomsoever, whenever he or she chooses. Or, “I thought there was nothing wrong with smoking, but years later, I have lung cancer. So now I know better,” one says, as he continues to smoke.

Solomon loved many wives, many “strange women,” and married as he chose, quite contrary to the express command of God: “You shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in to you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods” (1 Kings 11:2). And what happened to Solomon? It says, “And his wives turned away his heart” (verse 3). He began to worship and honor their pagan gods.

Did it happen overnight? Did it happen in the first or second year? Five years later, one may say, “See, like I told you - nothing happened. I haven’t backslidden. I married with the intent of winning my unbelieving spouse to the Lord. So my wife or husband doesn’t believe yet, but these things take time.”

Yes, they take time all right. But the Lord said, “Surely they will turn away your heart,” so surely it will be according to His Word. “For it came to pass, when Solomon was old [he didn’t marry many of them when he was old], that his wives turned away his heart after other gods” (verse 4).

I tell you, you backslid the day you purposed to ignore God and His Law.

Backsliding isn’t always evident immediately in feelings, outward appearances, or consequences:

“There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end thereof [not the beginning or the middle] are the ways of death,” wrote the man who learned by bitter experience (Proverb 14:12).

You can’t dishonor God and His Word and expect He’ll keep you safe in your disobedience and wilful disregard of His Law.

How is it that we all justify ourselves, rationalizing that while others won’t get away with it, we can handle it? “Oh, I won’t let him turn me away. I’ll be strong, I’ll pray, I’ll live a godly testimony before my husband, and he will be won to the Lord - I just know it! I really feel it is the will of God that we should marry. Didn’t Samson marry a Philistine woman? His parents were against it, too, but it was the will of God (Judges 14:1-4). How do you know it isn’t the will of God for me? I really love him, and he loves me. He says he doesn’t have a problem with me believing. He believes in God, too!”

Relentless, the daughter prevails; her parents cave in to her entreaties and reasonings. She marries the unbeliever. But what did God say, as just quoted above? “For surely [not ‘chances are,’ not ‘maybe,’ not ‘likely,’ not ‘possibly,’ not anything but ‘surely’] they will turn away your heart after their gods.”

What do you expect when you disregard God’s counsel? Do you think Him a fool? Did He warn you for nought? Listen to me: Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived (next to Jesus Who was not merely man, but God in the flesh). You read his proverbs, his Song, the Book of Ecclesiastes - only samples of all that he spoke, wrote, and did.

He built the Temple of God. His reign was one of peace and glory, a glory greatly admired by all nations roundabout. They came from far just to hear his wisdom and found, contrary to the usual, that what they had heard was less than what they directly discovered for themselves. Usually rumors are exaggerated; in this case, they fell short of the reality!

But we, in our youth, idolatries, ignorance, and arrogance are undoubtedly wiser and spiritually stronger than Solomon! Oh, yes, we can handle it! “This is different; I have Christ within whereas he didn’t,” we tell ourselves and others.

But we are all flesh; there is no righteousness with us, in and of ourselves, not in the days of Solomon and not today. If we disobey God, we can’t justify ourselves in any way. God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34).

You can claim whatever differences you want, be they in you, in your circumstances, or in that thing or person you want. It won’t do. Go against the Laws of God, and you reap terrible consequences. There is no other alternative; I don’t care who you are. Your feelings, opinions, and perceptions aren’t the sure things here. Only God and His Laws are sure.

“Let God be true, but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4). And when God speaks, He doesn’t speak in vain; He’s no fool or liar. When He speaks, it’s not mere opinion or speculation. His Word is fact; it’s Law; it’s truth.

What happened in the days of Noah? “...the sons of God [believers] saw the daughters of men [unbelievers] that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose” (Genesis 6:2). That led to the destruction of the whole earth. Unholy, forbidden marriage is a terrible thing that brings terrible consequences. Have no doubt of that. And by bitter experience, many no longer have that doubt, sad to say.

Do you think that because you love someone, therefore it is of God? Think again. What did we just read of Solomon? Solomon, it says, “clave unto [his wives] in love” (1 Kings 11:2).

How is it that people can marry out of the will of God? The answer is simple: If one can steal, kill, commit adultery, worship other gods, or do any other evil thing, it follows that one can also marry out of the will of God. Where in Scripture does it teach that all marriages are of God? Search the Scriptures for such evidence. In the meantime, we will show what the Scriptures do declare.

Jesus said, “But I say to you that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causes her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced commits adultery” (Matthew 5:32).

This Scripture declares there to be grounds for divorce. One interpretation to these words of Jesus may hold true: By the Law of Moses, if a man had married a woman and later discovered that he had not married a virgin, he could rightfully put her away. He would be doing so because of premarital fornication on her part.

The other most common interpretation is that it speaks of one of the married partners committing adultery, thus defiling the marriage, thus creating grounds for divorce. But Jesus didn’t say, “…saving for the cause of adultery.” He said, “…saving for the cause of fornication.” Two different words translated from two different words in Greek: “pornia” (fornication) and “moy khaho” (adultery).

According to the Law of Moses, the penalty for adultery was death by stoning:

“And the man that commits adultery with another man’s wife, even he that commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death” (Leviticus 20:10).

“Now Moses in the Law commanded us that such should be stoned...” (John 8:5; see also Deuteronomy 22:23-24).

There is a difference between fornication and adultery. Fornication is voluntary sexual relations between two unmarried persons. Adultery is sexual relations between a married person and someone he or she is not married to, be it an unmarried or married person. In adultery, marriage is involved; in fornication, not necessarily so. When marriage violation was involved, the penalty was death.

While sin is sin, and the wages of sin is death, there are varying degrees and kinds of sins. For example, there is a sin unto death and a sin not unto death, John says (1 John 5:16). Fornication was not always punishable by death. In some cases, it was “punishable,” or rather “resolvable,” by marriage:

“If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her [sex outside of marriage – fornication], and they be found; then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he has humbled her, he may not put her away all his days” (Deuteronomy 22:28-29).

But notice what happens to one betrothed (engaged). Betrothal was as good as marriage. In that case, the offenders were put to death:

“If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her; then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she didn’t cry out, being in the city; and the man, because he has humbled his neighbor’s wife: so shall you put away evil from among you” (Deuteronomy 22:23-24).

Jesus would not have brushed off adultery with a simple divorce, even if He sent an adulterous woman away with forgiveness and no punishment (John 8). He wasn’t there to punish, but to save from horribly punishing sin, from the self-punishment of sinners. But He also wasn’t there to do away with the Law or treat it lightly.

“‘Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to destroy but to fulfill. 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 5:17-19).

The point is that when Jesus spoke of divorce, He was speaking of fornication, not adultery, as the grounds. There is only one conclusion to be drawn: The people are not married though married; they are in fornication with each other.

How can they be married, yet not married? The marriage was put together by men, not by God. “What God has put together, let not man put asunder” (Mark 10:9), but what man has put together, independent of God, I say, let God put asunder, because it is fornication, not marriage. And He does put marriages of fornication asunder, because the works and deeds of lawless man can’t be blessed or prosper. That goes for anything against the ways of God. So, no matter what men may say or do, people are only truly married if God has put them together in marriage.

Let’s take into consideration more Scriptural testimony in Ezra, chapters 9 and 10.

Again, acknowledgment or confession of sin isn’t enough. Repentance is more than that; it’s a change not only of thought, but of behavior. Once you know that what you’ve been doing is wrong, it’s your responsibility to stop doing it. What did the children of Israel do when Ezra made them realize they were in marital sin? They said, “We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing” (10:2).

Then they said, “Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the Law” (10:3).

Ezra replied, “You have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel. Now, therefore, confess to the LORD God of your fathers, and do His pleasure. Separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives” (10:10-11).

Then they said, “As you have said, so must we do” (10:12). And they put away their wives and the children begotten of them. Yes, they did. I can assure you that in true repentance with works, God’s wrath was lifted, and blessing came upon them.

Dear reader, seeker to do God’s will, backslidden believer, did you marry an unbeliever? Are you married to one now? If so, in all likelihood, you are married according to men, according to the dictates and desires of the flesh, not according to God’s will. You may need to separate.

It doesn’t matter if you were “ceremonialized” in a church or pronounced “man and wife” by a pastor or justice of the peace. It doesn’t matter if your church frowns on divorce. You haven’t been created or brought to the faith of God to do the will of your church, your denomination, your pastor, or your family; you were created to do the will of God. There will never be peace or blessing for you from God until you obey. There’s no other way.

Many are the pastors and churches who don’t do the will of God or teach His Law faithfully. Of them it is written, “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me” (Mark 7:6).

Those who fight for their lives cry, “God calls us to peace; He calls us to love. You can’t just up and leave your husband or your wife! God is not a God of division, but of unity, of order, of reconciliation. This teaching is not of God, but of the Devil!”

Read some of the Diabolical Doctrines dealing with many teachings found in the churches that are anti-Scriptural, anti-Law, and anti-Christ. Yet they are taught and imposed upon the people as God’s Truth by various pastors and churches.

Mark 7:7-13 MKJV
(7) “However, they worship Me in vain, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
(8) For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, the dippings of pots and cups. And many other such things you do.”
(9) And He said to them, “Do you do well to set aside the commandment of God, so that you may keep your own tradition?
(10) For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ And, ‘Whoever curses father or mother, let him die the death.’
(11) But you say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, Corban! (that is, A gift to God, whatever you may profit by me)
(12) and you no longer allow him to do anything toward his father or mother,
(13) making the Word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have delivered. And you do many such things.”

Is it hard to obey God? Yes and no. Hard for the flesh, but a joy for the spirit in Christ. However, He didn’t promise a rose garden or a visit to Disneyland. He said, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24). That simply means, “To be Mine, you must die.”

He said (paraphrasing), “Die now for Me, obeying Me, and gain your life; or keep your life, dishonoring Me, and lose it thereafter” (Matthew 10:38-39).

Yes, we do have to suffer the consequences of our sins, of our disobedience to God. When David committed adultery with Bathsheba and then killed her husband, Uriah, terrible consequences came on him many years later, which he couldn’t avoid, even though he had confessed and repented. He had to reap what he had sown. (Read The Wrath of God.)

We aren’t to continue to sleep in the bed of sin. God forbid.

What fruits did you have in disobeying God and marrying? Did you enjoy your fruits? Not only did you rob yourself in this life of the blessing of God, you also may have robbed the one you married of someone else he or she should have married, and the one your spouse should have married was also robbed.

Marrying outside of God’s will as a believer, you trespassed. Hopefully, you’ll know now that to continue your sin will only reap more evil. In repenting of your actions, however, God will be merciful to you, a sinner, and will forgive you:

Joel 2:25-27 KJV
(25) And I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, My great army which I sent among you.
(26) And you shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the Name of the LORD your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you: and My people shall never be ashamed.
(27) And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and no one else: and My people shall never be ashamed.

(Read all of Joel 2.)

Don’t be hasty in drawing conclusions. Seek the Lord and see what He would have you do in your particular circumstances. Write us and together we can ask God for direction and judgment.

I often recall the words of a hymn and realize the truth of them: “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.” So often have I known the sorrow of sin, and the release and joy of faith and obedience to God and His Word. It’s the only way - hard, yes, but always rewarding.

And having believed and obeyed, you’ll say in the end with awe, joy, and excitement, “God is Faithful and True!”

Consider the alternative to believing this false doctrine: You can have the peace and prosperity of God by being in His will, in celibacy or in having the wife or husband meant for you, chosen by God’s wisdom, rather than man’s.

Read Incompatible Mixture and Choose This Day Between Family and God.

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Diabolical Doctrine 31) The “Lord’s Supper”

These Scriptures are often quoted before administration of the “Lord’s Supper,” otherwise known as the “Eucharist” or “Communion”:

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 MKJV
(23) 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;
(24) 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.”
(25) In the same way He took the cup also, after supping, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; as often as you drink it, do this in remembrance of Me.”
(26) For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you show the Lord’s death until He shall come.

Jesus was betrayed the day before the Passover was sacrificed. To understand what the apostle Paul was talking about and what the quoted words from the Lord mean, we first need to say more about this holy Feast day ordained by God and what it means today for those who believe.

As the Israelites were about to be led out of Egypt by Moses, the man sent by God 3,500 years ago to deliver the nation from their slavery, they were commanded to slay a lamb, and to daub the doorposts and lintels of their houses with its blood. In their believing and obeying, the Death Angel would pass over their dwelling, sparing all the firstborn therein. Not having this instruction, the Egyptians lost all their firstborn of man and beast.

This event sealed the deliverance by the Lord of His people from their Egyptian oppressors. Thereafter, each year at the appointed time, the Israelites would keep the Passover.

Not only would the Passover be a commemoration of what happened at that time; it would also be a solemn Feast signifying that which was to come. In the fullness of time, about fifteen centuries later, Jesus Christ, born a Jew of the tribe of Judah, without sin, the Son and Lamb of God, laid down His life as a sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. His death on the Roman cross at the insistence of the Jews would be the antitype or fulfillment of the Passover Feast.

So what was Paul instructing the believers to observe? Was it a ritual, or was it something else? The full context tells us:

1 Corinthians 11:18-34 MKJV
(18) For first of all, when you come together in the Church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and I partly believe it.
(19) For there must also be heresies among you, that the approved ones may be revealed among you.
(20) Therefore when you come together into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.
(21) For in eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry, and another drunken.
(22) For do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the Church of God, and shame those who do not have? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? I do not praise you!
(23) 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;
(24) 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.”
(25) In the same way He took the cup also, after supping, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; as often as you drink it, do this in remembrance of Me.”
(26) For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you show the Lord’s death until He shall come.
(27) So that whoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, he will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
(28) But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup.
(29) For he who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks condemnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
(30) For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and many sleep.
(31) For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.
(32) But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
(33) So that, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.
(34) But if anyone hungers, let him eat at home, so that you do not come together to condemnation. And the rest I will set in order when I come.

Obviously Paul wasn’t writing about the annual keeping of the Passover as commanded in the Law of Moses, because he was speaking of whenever the believers came together to meet, a regular occurrence. He was saying the Corinthians weren’t gathering in the Spirit of Christ, but were behaving selfishly instead. In doing so, they weren’t eating the Lord’s flesh and blood, His body broken for them.

What or who is His body? Do not the Scriptures teach that those who are His, those who are born again from above, those who are saints, the true Jews, the true Christians, are His body, and members in particular (1 Corinthians 12; Romans 12)?

Paul warned the Corinthians that if they were not discerning the Lord’s body, partaking of it unworthily, that is, variously abusing brother and sister in Christ, disrespecting Christ in those in whom He dwells, they were eating and drinking judgment to themselves. Because of that judgment, he said, many were sick, and even dead.

Even when gathering together, they were forsaking the assembling of themselves together in Christ by despising Him in His brethren (Hebrews 10:25; 1 Corinthians 11:27-30). If we thus cut ourselves off, we cannot live, being disconnected from the Source of Life.

There is no life outside the commandment and will of God. And what did the Lord Jesus teach as God’s commandment and will, which He demonstrated at Passover by word and example?

“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you” (John 15:12-14 MKJV).

The Corinthians were doing the opposite of what the Lord commanded and did for us by laying down His life, and Paul warned them and us about how we ought to conduct ourselves 24/7 as believers. It’s that simple, though the Lord must open our understanding and reveal these things to us. How complicated men have made things by their carnal minds and religious spirits!

Consider the great confusion concerning the Passover and what is commonly called the “Lord’s Supper.” Today, there are so many versions and ways of commemorating this event. Men have religiously endeavored to observe it partially according to their interpretation of the Lord’s words: “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19; for full accounts of this event, read Luke 22:1-20; Matthew 26:17-29; Mark 14:12-25; and John 13:1-30).

They have layered confusion on confusion. The ways of darkness are ever with confusion. Only with the truth can there be understanding, harmony, peace, and joy.

In the accounts of the Passover meal that Jesus shared with His disciples, there is no mention of a lamb, only bread and fruit of the vine. That’s because the lamb was scheduled, according the instructions in the Law of Moses, to be sacrificed the following afternoon, which is exactly what happened. Christ, the Lamb of God Himself, was slain at the time of the killing of the lamb, signifying that our sustenance was to be His body broken and blood shed for our sakes. This is the spiritual food that we must partake of to have life, which we do by taking up our cross by His Spirit and power.

When the Lord was crucified on the day of Passover, He fulfilled the Feast, becoming that precious event for believers ever after. Jesus Christ is our Passover! As it is written, “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the Feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:7-8).

And when are children of faith not keeping the Feast, if keeping it means walking in sincerity and truth?

Today, the Catholic Church celebrates “Mass,” in which the priest gives bread and wine to the congregants, this being called the “Sacrament of Holy Communion.” The Anglican, Episcopalian, Lutheran, and other denominations do likewise. The Catholic Church also teaches the occultish doctrine of transubstantiation, claiming that the “elements,” that is, the bread and wine, are miraculously changed into the literal body and blood of Jesus Christ at the blessing and pronunciation of the priest. This is one of man’s versions of the “Lord’s Supper.”

But in Luke 22:19, Jesus was speaking figuratively, not literally. “I am the Bread of Life,” He was saying. He once told the disciples:

John 6:51-58 MKJV
(51) “I am the Living Bread which came down from Heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread, he shall live forever. And truly the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
(52) Then the Jews argued with one another, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
(53) Then Jesus says to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you do not have life in yourselves.
(54) Whoever partakes of My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
(55) For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.
(56) He who partakes of My flesh and drinks My blood dwells in Me, and I in him.
(57) As the living Father has sent Me, and I live through the Father, so he who partakes of Me, even he shall live by Me.
(58) This is the Bread which came down from Heaven, not as your fathers ate the manna, and died; he who partakes of this Bread shall live forever.”

Just as water baptism in and of itself doesn’t wash away man’s sins, neither do we receive the Resurrection Life of the Lord Jesus simply by consuming bread and wine, no matter how many times and ways blessed by a priest or pastor, no matter what faith they put in miraculous intervention, no matter how much they think they please God in their error, while perishing for lack of knowledge.

Jesus was speaking of our partaking of Him, worshipping in spirit and in truth, believing on Him. He wasn’t teaching His disciples, or us, to be partaking in literal ceremony or ritual. He said furthermore, after the words above, “Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? It is the Spirit Who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:61-63).

If we interpret the partaking of the Lord’s body and, thus, the “Lord’s Supper” literally, we begin to wade into a quagmire of foolishness and contradictions to which there is neither bottom nor end. Indeed, we could conceivably descend into the very pit of cannibalism. The early church was accused of cannibalism, when the heathen heard the figurative language used and interpreted it literally, as only the carnal mind does.

The Catholic Church holds their version of the “Lord’s Supper” as often as they celebrate Mass - everyday and even more than once a day, if possible, or every week on Sundays, or any other day, if necessary.

Are we compelled to keep these pagan-styled, superstitious ordinances, as the Catholic Church interprets the Lord’s words, lest we perish? The Catholic Church declares so.

But what of the “Protestants”? They aren’t such great protesters as one might think. They follow the injunction of the Catholic Church to keep Sunday, which Constantine decreed, rather than the Sabbath (the seventh day which God ordained). They also often baptize infants, celebrate Mass, wear clerical vestments and collars, build elaborate religious buildings called “churches,” hire ministers called “Reverends,” have a clerical hierarchy, propagate several doctrines of devils, and honor many of the abominations of the heathen.

Most nominal Christian denominations (Protestant and otherwise) believe in literally keeping the “Lord’s Supper.” Some keep it once a week, some once a month, some once a year, some as often as they feel like it.

Some believe it should be kept only with unleavened bread, others not. Some believe it should be kept only with unfermented grape juice, along with bread, while others use, and even insist upon, wine.

Some believe the bread should certainly be swallowed whole, without chewing, as do the Catholics, while others believe it can be chewed. Some believe it should be in convenient wafer style, while others believe that the participants should be sharing a whole loaf and “breaking bread.”

Some, like Southern Baptists, believe that only committed members, water baptized into the local congregation, should be allowed to participate, disallowing even those who belong to other member churches of their denomination.

Others, like the Alliance Church, go on the honor system, allowing anyone who professes faith in Jesus Christ to participate, no matter what denomination or proof of fruits.

It is “mass” confusion, pun intended. God is not author of this mass of mess.

The Protestant tradition of literally partaking of the bread and fruit of the vine, called the “Lord’s Supper,” in whatever form, is a carryover from the Church of Rome, an interpretation of the carnal mind seeking to glorify the flesh in the name of worshipping the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Roman Church got their ideas from the Mithraists, the sun worshipers. This isn’t at all what Jesus intended.

According to one writer, Lew White, in Fossilized Customs, the error of this ritual was present before Jesus’ day. The pagan Mithraists, worshipers of the sun, held wafers of bread up to the sun to receive its “life-giving” rays. The bread was believed to be transformed and, using the Catholic term, was “transubstantiated” into the actual presence of the sun. By eating that bread, the partakers would possess the powers of the sun deity. This pagan ritual was far more similar to the Catholic Mass than to the event described in the Gospels wherein Jesus had His last supper with the disciples and broke bread with them indoors.

The last time I kept the physical ordinance of the “Lord’s Supper” was in 1977. I was told by evangelicals, as well as Catholics, that I would perish spiritually if I didn’t observe this ordinance or sacrament. This is nothing other than superstition, a dependence on carnal ordinances and fleshly virtue, so contrary to the Lord’s words:

“It is the Spirit that makes alive, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit and are life” (John 6:63 MKJV).

Here I am now, alive and well, loving the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. I haven’t perished after nearly 40 years. Why not? Because I’ve been eating His flesh and drinking His blood:

“For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who partakes of My flesh and drinks My blood dwells in Me, and I in him. As the living Father has sent Me, and I live through the Father, so he who partakes of Me, even he shall live by Me” (John 6:55-57 MKJV).

The Lord has been with me, and has blessed my house and all those who believe with me, though, I confess, they are few. But then, the walk with God isn’t about numbers; it never was. There were always few who believed and took up the cross. There were few in Noah’s day, and the Lord said this day would be similar:

“But as the days of Noah were, so shall be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in the days before the Flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered into the Ark. And they did not know until the Flood came and took them all away. So also will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:37-39 MKJV).

Noah and his family may not have been regularly eating bread and drinking wine in the Name of the Lord, but they had saving faith by partaking in His flesh and blood. They believed! So it was with Abraham, the father of our faith, who saw His day and was glad. So it was with all the fathers of faith, saints, and prophets.

We rejoice that, as we’ve been partaking of the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, we’ve been delivered from the feasts of the heathen, such as Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s, Halloween, May Day, New Year’s, Thanksgiving, birthday celebrations, and anniversaries.

We’ve been given to know that the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ have been so efficacious as to ultimately save all mankind.

We’ve been granted wisdom in carnal matters, such as to deliver us from the delusions of those who think they can eat anything since the cross, contrary to Scripture, even ham at the supposed commemoration of His death. How gross and evil can man be?!

We’ve been delivered from the unscrupulous machinations of murderous merchandisers, the servants of the enemy, who pollute our food, air, soil, water, and society in every respect. Satan attacks man in spirit, soul, and body, unbeknownst to many who claim faith in Christ.

We’ve been delivered from the confusion, delusions, and religious and philosophical works of men, which destroy all who participate.

We’ve been blessed with the Rest of God, the Sabbath both without (the weekly day), and most importantly, within (in spirit).

We’ve been taught of God, Whom we have been, graciously and mercifully, given to worship in spirit and in truth.

Praise the Lord, Who does all things well! Bless His Holy Name! Yes, His Name is Yahweh, Yeshua HaMashiach, Elohim, and Jesus Christ. He is the God of the Hebrews, the God of the Bible, the Creator of all things, the One and Only Lord and Savior of all mankind. This is the One of Whom we speak.

In spirit and truth, we love the Lord Jesus Christ because He first loved us. For His sake, we’ve forsaken all things so that we might walk with Him, as one. We walk with Him, and are so thankful that we do. Our desire is that He be greatly pleased with us. Let it be His pleasure before ours, always.

Consider the alternative: What profit is there in the flesh? Don’t the Scriptures declare that flesh and blood can’t enter the Kingdom of Heaven? If you’re in Christ, walking in obedience by faith, you are indeed partaking of His flesh and blood. There is no further need of types and shadows, and never a call for fleshly pagan indulgences, which bind, confound, and corrupt.

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Diabolical Doctrine 32) Jewish worship practices and traditions are important to keep

There’s a religious fad sweeping nominal Christianity, that of indulging in Jewish worship practices and traditions. Many searchers have determined there are precious truths to be discovered in types and shadows, with great and rare blessings. Seekers are flocking to this thinking because they are empty spiritually. They’re unfulfilled in their churches and their systems of belief and worship; they’re unfulfilled within because in unbelief.

This is a curious and sad thing. What have Jews circumcised only in the flesh had to offer, more than Jews circumcised in the heart? The apostle Paul writes to the Roman assembly of saints:

“But I say, Did Israel not know? First Moses says, ‘I will provoke you [Jews in the flesh] to jealousy by them that are no people [Gentiles], and by a foolish nation [Gentiles] I will anger you.’ But Isaiah is very bold, and says, ‘I was found of them that sought Me not [Gentiles]; I was made manifest to them that asked not after Me [Gentiles].’ But to Israel [Jews in the flesh, without circumcised hearts], He says, ‘All day long I have stretched forth My hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people’” (Romans 10:19-21: Deuteronomy 32:21; Isaiah 65:1).

The people flocking to Jewish worship practices and traditions often profess to be born-again believers. The above Scripture declares that it is the believing, circumcised-in-the-heart Gentiles who are to be provoking the unbelieving Jews to jealousy, not the other way around. But what we see are spiritually empty professing believers seeking to be fed by the customs of those who are just as empty themselves, still locked in their shadows and ordinances, without the Christ Reality.

I would liken such a seeker to one who should be a teacher in high school, yet goes back to kindergarten as a student because he simply doesn’t have what he thinks he should have or would like to have. He’s looking to those who should be his students for his education, instead of being able to minister to their dire needs. These professing believers believe the Messianic movements to be the most recent and wonderful, if not final, move of the Spirit of God in this last day; they are looking to darkness as the brightest of lights.

Jesus Christ came in the flesh 2,000 years ago to fulfill many of the types and shadows religious Jews practise today, found both inside and outside the Messianic circles. After His coming, the Reality within was made available for all. As Peter said to the Jews gathered in Jerusalem at Pentecost:

“Repent, and be baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the Holy Spirit, for the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord your God shall call” (Acts 2:38-39).

One can be immersed in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Fountain of Life - God Himself. If so, what need is there of ceremonies, ordinances, types, and shadows? One can and must have the Essential Fulfillment. Why would I, having the kernel of grain, continue to focus on the chaff?

You who are a grafted branch of the olive tree will find nothing worthwhile in the dead leaves and twigs of branches long ago cast off. The fruit you seek ought to be in the grafted branch - in you. You need to go forward, not backward; upward, not downward; inward, not outward. You need to seek the Lord God Himself, and if you do so with all your heart and soul, you’ll find Him (Jeremiah 29:13).

“He that comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37).

Jesus Christ can’t be satisfied with formalized worship, as many suppose. He wants your heart. For many, worship becomes an end in itself and therefore usurps the glory of God. When you indulge in formal worship practices, don’t think for a moment you’re pleasing God - you’re not. You’re simply manifesting a religious spirit that likes to think it’s in control and pleasing God, but is only pleasing itself:

Colossians 2:20-23 MKJV
(20) If then you died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as though living in the world, are you subject to its ordinances:
(21) touch not, taste not, handle not;
(22) which things are all for corruption in the using, according to the commands and doctrines of men?
(23) These things indeed have a reputation of wisdom in self-imposed worship and humility, and unsparing severity of the body, but are not of any value for the satisfying of the flesh.

“For the Law which has a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of the things, appearing year by year with the same sacrifices, which they offer continually, they are never able to perfect those drawing near” (Hebrews 10:1 MKJV).

(Read The Worship of God.)

This is not a condemnation of Jews, or even of Jewish ceremony and tradition. When the Lord opens the eyes of the Jews and they believe, they’ll know the meaning of the words Jesus spoke to the woman at the well:

“Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:21-24).

Since Christ came in the flesh, many Gentiles have believed, while the Jews, for the most part, haven’t. So now in this world, we have Jews in the flesh and Jews in the spirit (those born again). God’s purpose is that all will be made Jews in the spirit (man completed in His image):

“For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God” (Romans 2:28-29).

The Jews in the spirit are the ones who indeed know what they worship, while the Jews in the flesh cannot and do not.

Whether you’re a Jew in the flesh or not, if you’re a Jew in the spirit and walking in faith, you’ll know Whom you worship. If you’re in darkness as a Jew in the spirit, repent of your sins and gods and turn to the Lord with your whole heart, believe, and obey, and you’ll find the Way.

Then, rather than looking to Jews in the flesh for guidance, you’ll be teaching both them and Gentiles the Way of Truth by example, presenting to them their Messiah, the Hope of Israel.

Consider the alternative: If you’re the Lord’s, you’re already a true Jew, without types and shadows. Seek the Light of men that you may be light to lead, instead of one searching in the darkness of shadows, which shadows merely foretold of a better day, a day you ought to know.

You may also wish to read The Error of Insisting on Using Hebrew Names for God.

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Diabolical Doctrine 33) “Soul sleep”: The dead in Christ are unconscious

There are those who teach that when we die, we go into a state of unconsciousness or “soul sleep” until the time of the resurrection, when the decision is made on our final state. They use several Scriptures to defend this error. For example, they point to when Jesus referred to dead Lazarus as asleep, then plainly declared he was dead (John 11:11-14).

Jesus once said to the Sadducees who didn’t believe in the resurrection, “It is written, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob.’ God is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Matthew 22:32).

He said to Martha, the sister of Lazarus: “He who believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live. Whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:25-26).

So we can say to those who believe this doctrine, “God is not the God of the sleeping, but of those who, through faith, have been awakened from sleep, never to sleep again.”

“He will not allow your foot to be moved; He Who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He Who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalms 121:3-4 MKJV).

Even as He Who keeps us never slumbers, so we who are made in His image will never slumber.

The new birth is one in which we are born of God, born again by His Spirit. Does God sleep? If He doesn’t sleep, and we are in union with Him, born of His Spirit, then how can we ever sleep? Yes, in body we sleep - our outer man perishes - but our new birth in Christ precludes death or sleep of the inner man.

Only those without the present reality or understanding of the union with Christ could possibly believe the lie that the physically dead in Christ are unconscious, asleep, that is, dead in spirit. Only those dead in spirit (asleep) can’t comprehend the present reality of eternal life (wakefulness) in Christ Jesus.

So how shall the following words of Paul’s be explained?:

“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will also bring with Him all those who have fallen asleep through Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 4:14 MKJV).

To those living in this world, those passed on are asleep, but are awake to the world where they are now. If they are in Christ, they are very much awake, both when they lived in this world and in the next.

If they aren’t in Christ, they are dead to Him and the Kingdom of Heaven, but alive in carnal consciousness, having to be redeemed, chastened, and cleansed.

True Christianity isn’t a religion, but Reality. It is Jesus Christ, God Himself no less (John 1:3-4; Colossians 1:17). When He comes to dwell in Person within the believer, that person never sleeps again. In the flesh he sleeps (dies), but in spirit, united with Christ by the new birth, he is ever awake to the One Who keeps him and never slumbers.

The writer of Hebrews speaks of the reality of life and the awakened state from the dead of the believer as a fact in this world and this life:

“But you are come [have come] unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general Assembly and Church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things than that of Abel” (Hebrews 12:22-24).

Did the Hebrews writer say we go to oblivion and unconsciousness? If so, who are these to whom we come when we are born again? We come to a city, to the living God, to the angels, to the general Assembly and Church of the firstborn.

And to Whom else do those born again come? We come to the Judge of all, Who is the God of the living, not of the dead (as Jesus said in rebuke to the Sadducees). We come to the spirits of just men made perfect, not to spirits asleep. We come to Him Who is Life! He’s alive! All in Him are alive.

Our entering this fellowship of saints is not merely a theoretical matter, but an actuality, just as the Hebrews writer wasn’t speaking of theoretical persons or speaking of people existing at a time other than during our existence here on earth. He was speaking of real, living, present people here and now:

“Therefore since we also are surrounded with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1 MKJV).

Is God alive, real, and present? Are the angels alive, real, and present? Is Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, alive, real, and present? If so, why would God include the dead with the living in the great assembly of witnesses to which we come when entering the Kingdom through the new birth? He didn’t; those witnesses are also alive, real, and present.

The notion that God is in Heaven with the angels, while Abraham and all other passed-on believers are unconscious, is ludicrous. Why should they be unconscious, asleep, or dead? Why should Stephen be unconscious, having seen Jesus Christ alive in the world to come? Is he not a partaker of the resurrected life, Jesus Christ Himself? Of course he is! That’s how Stephen was able to see the Son of Man seated on the right hand of God. He was already partaker within of the Resurrection, Whom Jesus Christ is.

When Moses and Elijah met with Jesus on the mount, were they sleepwalking and talking in their sleep? The Adventists, who believe in the dead being unconscious, under the devil-inspired leadership of Ellen G. White and her self-appointed successors, brush aside this event as a mere vision, as though visions of God are unreal or untruthful. Otherwise, they declare that Elijah and Moses never died. When it is pointed out in Scripture that Moses did die (Deuteronomy 34:5-8), they say he was an exception - that he, of all dead, did not become unconscious as others do.

On what basis do they make that assertion? They must explain away the testimony of the Scriptures to preserve and defend their doctrine, which has no foundation in God. They make null and void the Law and the prophets by their traditions and doctrines of men.

Now read this:

1) “I, John, have heard and seen all these things. And when I finished hearing and seeing them, I fell down at the feet of the angel who had shown me these things, and I was about to worship him. But he said to me, ‘Don't do it! I am a servant together with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all those who obey the words in this book. Worship God!’” (Revelation 22:8-9 GNB)

The angel spoke of the servants of God as active, not dead or asleep, just as Jesus said to the Sadducees (Matthew 22:32).

There are other Scriptures demonstrating that those who pass on from this life in Christ are not unconscious or in “soul sleep”:

2) At Saul’s request of a woman who could divine, the prophet Samuel (whom had previously died) appeared to Saul and told him that the next day the Philistines would defeat Israel and Saul and his sons would die and be with Samuel (1 Samuel 28).

One may argue that it was devils working by the witch to deceive Saul into believing he was speaking with Samuel. Why, then, was the woman alarmed by what she saw? Yes, devils can frighten; but why did all the things spoken of by Samuel come to pass? Do devils have power to speak the judgment of God that comes to pass?

How else was Saul rebuked for his evils, except by a servant of God? Yes, devils can pretend righteousness and condemn offenders, but they don’t have the authority of God backing their accusations, as Samuel demonstrated here.

This Scripture clearly testifies of one who had previously passed on. Samuel was awake unto God and spoke what He gave Saul to hear.

3) There is the example of Jesus preaching to the spirits in prison, those who died in the Flood.

1 Peter 3:18-20 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).

The souls to whom Jesus spoke were not unconscious or sleeping.

4) What about the souls under the altar?

“And when He had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘Until when, Master, holy and true, do You not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ And white robes were given to each one of them. And it was said to them that they should rest yet for a little time, until both their fellow servants and their brothers (those about to be killed as they were) should have their number made complete” (Revelation 6:9-11 MKJV).

5) There is the gathering referred to in Scripture:

“And Abraham expired and died in a good old age, old and satisfied. And he was gathered to his people” (Genesis 25:8 MKJV).

“And these were the years of the life of Ishmael, a hundred thirty-seven years. And he expired and died, and was gathered to his people” (Genesis 25:17 MKJV).

“And Isaac expired and died, and was gathered to his people, old and satisfied of days. And his sons, Esau and Jacob, buried him” (Genesis 35:29 MKJV).

“And [Jacob] charged them and said to them, ‘I am to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite’” (Genesis 49:29 MKJV).

“And Jacob finished commanding his sons, and he gathered his feet into the bed. And he expired, and was gathered to his people” (Genesis 49:33 MKJV).

God said to Moses, “…and die in the mountain where you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered to his people” (Deuteronomy 32:50 MKJV).

Is this speaking of gathering dust and ashes into one great eternal heap, carcass by carcass, or is it speaking of the Living God presiding over the living, not over the dead, in a dimension of which mortal men have little understanding without the life and Spirit of Christ in them?

“And as regards the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses how God spoke to him in the bush, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob?’ He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. Therefore you greatly err” (Mark 12:26-27 MKJV).

6) There are the multitudes John saw in Heaven:

Revelation 7:9-17 MKJV
(9) After these things I looked, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, out of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palms in their hands.
(10) And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God sitting on the throne, and to the Lamb.”
(11) And all the angels stood around the throne, and the elders, and the four living creatures, and they fell before the throne on their faces and worshiped God,
(12) saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”
(13) And one of the elders answered, saying to me, “Who are these who are arrayed in white robes, and from where do they come?”
(14) And I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who came out of the great tribulation and have washed their robes, and have whitened them in the blood of the Lamb.
(15) Therefore they are before the throne of God, and they serve Him day and night in His temple. And He sitting on the throne will dwell among them.
(16) They will not hunger any more, nor thirst any more, nor will the sun light on them, nor any heat.
(17) For the Lamb Who is in the midst of the throne will feed them and will lead them to the fountains of living waters. And God will wipe away all tears from their eyes.”

7) Paul spoke of being absent from the body and present with the Lord. If we are present with Him Who is the Resurrection and the Life, how can we be unconscious, whether in this life or the next?

“Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: For we walk by faith, not by sight: We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:6-8 KJV).

One can make the Bible say almost anything. I have had Seventh Day Adventists and others argue from the Scriptures, using many passages to press their points. The common comment they give is: “Even a child can see that!” This comment exposes their death and darkness. They err, carnally interpreting the Scriptures by their own powers of observation, influenced by devils’ doctrines, knowing neither the Scriptures by the Spirit of God nor the power thereof.

The Lord’s testimony is clear: The most intelligent man can see nothing in Scripture unless it is revealed to him from above. Until then, he’s in total darkness about any matter in Scripture. As Jesus said, “I thank You, O Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the sophisticated and cunning, and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight” (Matthew 11:25-26).

Why do men make such commotion about the departed falling into unconscious oblivion? What is their purpose? They may seem more enlightened and kinder than others who preach everlasting torment. Compared to the prospect of never-ending torture, consigning souls to oblivion seems far more humane. But it’s a lie about God all the same, and lies always kill or keep you asleep.

“This also, knowing the time, that it is already time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we believed” (Romans 13:11 MKJV).

None of the preachers of this diabolical doctrine have known the Life that now is. Ironically, they are the very ones who are asleep, unconscious as they walk and talk, dead to the Kingdom of God. But those who believe on Him partake of Life presently, being delivered from death and Hell.

“Therefore He says, ‘Awake, sleeping ones! And arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light’” (Ephesians 5:14 MKJV).

Consider the alternative to believing this doctrine: Know there’s never-ending life in Christ beginning here on earth. Jesus promised, “Whoever lives and believes in Me shall NEVER die [sleep].” How blessed is the truth! How blessed is the one who believes!

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Diabolical Doctrine 34) The wicked are annihilated

There are those who teach that the unrepentant wicked of this life will go to everlasting punishment, a never-ending horrible torment, because they didn’t “accept” Jesus Christ into their hearts. This is a diabolical doctrine taught as Gospel truth, used to convert the simple, not by fear of God, but by fear of the worst possible outcome man can imagine. Read Diabolical Doctrine - Those who don’t believe in the Lord Jesus Christ will be fearfully and forever tormented, without end and Diabolical Doctrine - Accept Jesus as your personal Savior, and you will be saved.

Another theory we now debunk is one that mercifully puts the wicked out of their misery, asserting it’s highly unreasonable to subject any living creature to endless torment. This is a more appealing alternative and reflects more favorably on God, Who is Love by Nature, but it’s still a lie and falls far short of His glory.

There is a third alternative, which is not only an alternative but the design of God, testified of in the Holy Scriptures.

The truth is God isn’t willing that any should perish, but that all men be saved:

“The Lord is not slow concerning His promise, as some count slowness, but is long-suffering toward us, not purposing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9 MKJV).

“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, Who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3-4 MKJV).

And who can resist His will?

“You will then say to me, Why does He yet find fault? For who has resisted His will?” (Romans 9:19 MKJV)

Certainly not the sinner who is slave to sin and who is utterly dependent upon an Omnipotent Savior, not only to cause him to do that which is right, but even to want to do (to will) it:

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

“He Who calls you is faithful, Who also will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:24).

And the Scriptures declare that God will do this for every soul who ever lived, because all have sinned; they aren’t able to give Him glory except through the saving work of Jesus Christ:

“Therefore God has highly exalted Him, and has given Him a Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of heavenly ones, and of earthly ones, and of ones under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11 MKJV).

If only one knee doesn’t bow or if only one tongue doesn’t confess, then the glory of God the Father won’t be complete, will it? And who can deny it?

A wonderful statement by the Lord Jesus destroys the notion of annihilation of the wicked. He said to His disciples, as He was sending them out to preach and minister:

“And whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!” (Mark 6:11; see also Matthew 10:14-15 and Luke 10:10-15)

Who was more deserving of eternal damnation or annihilation than the Sodomites? Sodom and Gomorrah go down in history as the cities destroyed by Divine intervention because their wickedness was so great (read of their vileness in Genesis 19).

Let’s consider the eventual fate of Sodom and Gomorrah in light of Jesus’ words. How is it there’s “tolerableness” for Sodom and Gomorrah if they’re only going to be eternally tormented or, more mercifully, annihilated? Why is there even a day of judgment? Why a comparison of these other cities to Sodom and Gomorrah if they will all be consigned to annihilation?

Do the proponents of these doctrines of devils say Sodom and Gomorrah will burn in Hell or be annihilated, but not as severely as those cities that refuse to hear the Gospel? How can some burn more or less severely than others, if it is forever? How can there be more tolerability for some than for others, if they are to be completely disposed of? Is this what they call mercy?

Surely, God is not served, or His glory enhanced, in continuing the sufferings of His creatures without end. The thought of, “I told you so,” won’t serve any good for the sufferers, seeing there’s no hope of redemption. Surely there’s no profit to the saved if their friends and relatives are tormented or destroyed.

The Lord’s truth of comparative tolerability summarily discounts any possibility of either eternal torment or annihilation.

Take heart, dear reader; the Lord can deliver you from such lies and hopelessness. I also believed foolish nonsense until the Lord delivered me from it, by the illumination of the Scriptures through His Spirit.

Let’s look at these verses:

“And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to Heaven, shall be brought down to Hell. For if the mighty works which have been done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you” (Matthew 11:23-24 MKJV).

I have heard many people say God is fair, just, and loving, and that He leaves people without excuse before He exacts punishment or consequence. But here we have the Lord’s clear testimony that if God had done those same works in Sodom that were done in Capernaum, Sodom would have been spared the judgment of fire. Why? They wouldn’t have corrupted themselves as they did.

But He adds that Sodom will yet have its day in judgment, a day of tolerance beyond that of Capernaum, which was not destroyed by Divine intervention. Again, what need have we of tolerance and the contrasting of degrees of unrighteousness if all are going to burn forever or be annihilated?

And how can annihilation, the epitome of death, be the end, when God says that death is cast into the Lake of Fire?

“And death and Hell were cast into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death” (Revelation 20:14 MKJV).

In other words, there is an end to death, a second death, which is also the end of sin and Hell. Physical death isn’t final at all, except that it ends our brief and painful stint of existence on earth. Jesus Christ is the Omega or our Z. Therefore He alone is the Finality. Death isn’t final, but it is finalized.

The Scripture says that Jesus came to overcome death, the last enemy:

“For it is right for Him to reign until He has put all the enemies under His feet. The last enemy made to cease is death” (1 Corinthians 15:25-26 MKJV).

Consider the verses just before that one:

“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first-fruit, and afterward they who are Christ’s at His coming; then is the end, when He delivers the Kingdom to God, even the Father; when He makes to cease all rule and all authority and power” (1 Corinthians 15:22-24 MKJV).

“All will be made alive,” means that death is not final. Jesus, Who is the very essence of Life and the Light of men, will be and is the Finality. By Whom all things consist, “all will be made alive”!

Also, if death is final (meaning sinful people are annihilated), why would He have keys for it?

“And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying to me, ‘Do not fear, I am the First and the Last, and the Living One, and I became dead, and behold, I am alive for ever and ever, Amen. And I have the keys of Hell and of death’” (Revelation 1:17-18 MKJV).

Death is the absence of God – and God is Life. He doesn’t make Himself absent forever. He is…THE RESURRECTION! That’s what His work on the cross and the resurrection to new, imperishable life is all about.

“Then will take place the word that is written, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?’” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55 MKJV)

Death is swallowed up when the fallen nature producing death has been eliminated by Jesus Christ. This is the annihilation that does take place, when the old man is put away and the new man is raised up in His imperishable life:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV).

Man was created in the image of God. He was created by Perfection Himself. Therefore man will be brought to perfection - he who was “born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13).

Shall that which was intended for perfection be tossed into the universal garbage heap or incinerator? Would that not be a clear demonstration of sheer incompetence and abject failure on the part of One Who, by His very nature, cannot fail?

Oh, how man, in his darkness he calls light, fails to reason clearly with those faculties God has given him. But this, too, is the perfect design of God:

“For the creation was not willingly subjected to vanity, but because of Him Who subjected it on hope that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21 MKJV).

The mental disposition behind the doctrine of annihilation is the same as for eternal torment – it’s all about man controlling his destiny by his self-righteous choosing and works. You would think “believers” would rejoice to hear of God’s mercy to save all sinners, but when His generosity comes at the expense of their righteousness, they refuse and object.

“But,” it is argued, “God doesn’t want a bunch of robots running around, zombies forced to love Him. So, in His wisdom, He gave us free will, so we can choose for ourselves.” That sounds magnanimous, but there’s a problem: Those thoughts express the “magnanimity” of the prince of this world, the consummate rebel who insists that we are free agents, able to be as God in our own rights and free to exercise our own rights independently of God, even deciding how to worship Him.

The fact is that we lost all rights in the first Adam when we believed the serpent instead of God. In that day we died and lost everything, including our free will. We became bondservants to sin. We were plunged into “outer darkness where was weeping and gnashing of teeth.” We were made subject to the liar, who has filled our heads with all false notions of God and of God’s will and ways.

Instead of ruling, man became a slave under the serpent’s dominion. A free agent, indeed! Ask any slave about free will. He’ll teach you soon enough. He’ll tell you plainly that he has very little right to choose anything. However, the great slave owner of the universe, the liar, murderer, and usurper of mankind has deceived his subjects into believing they have free will. Indeed, isn’t that what deception is all about - believing the opposite of what is true?

But in the fullness of time, God sent His Only begotten Son to redeem Adam and his progeny from that bondage, bringing us into true freedom wherein, at the Name of Jesus, our knees bow, and our tongues confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (yes, Lord… in other words we are submitted to a Higher Power, not free to do as we please). Read the Diabolical Doctrine - Man has free will.

Annihilation? No. Eternal torment? No. Absolute redemption for all? Yes, to the glory of God the Father, through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who loved us, and gave Himself, not only for the chiefest of sinners (Saul of Tarsus), but for us all. Jesus Christ is rightly called our Savior and Lord, greatly to be believed and greatly to be praised. Blessed be the Name of Jesus!

For further knowledge of the Scriptures on the topic of the salvation of all mankind, you can read our letters and writings in The Restitution of All Things.

Consider the alternative to believing the doctrine of annihilation: Where sin abounded, grace has abounded much more. All men will one day rejoice in God, their Savior, to His full glory. Amen!

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Diabolical Doctrine 35) Satan was once a good being

There is a prevalent doctrine that Satan was once a glorious angel, in harmony with the goodness of God, but pride and ambition took over and he rebelled. The primary Scriptures used to support this doctrine are those of Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14, interpreting the king of Tyre and Lucifer as Satan. However, let’s take a closer look at what these Scriptures say:

Ezekiel 28:11-19 MKJV
(11) And the Word of the LORD came to me, saying,
(12) “Son of man, lift up a lament over the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘So says the Lord God: You seal the measure, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
(13) You have been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, the ruby, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the turquoise, and the emerald, and gold. The workmanship of your tambourines and of your flutes was prepared in you in the day that you were created.
(14) You were the anointed cherub that covers, and I had put you in the holy height of God where you were; you have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
(15) You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, until iniquity was found in you.
(16) By the multitude of your goods they have filled your midst with violence, and you have sinned. So I cast you profaned from the height of God, and I destroy you, O covering cherub, from among the stones of fire.
(17) Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you have spoiled your wisdom because of your brightness. I will cast you to the ground; I will put you before kings, that they may behold you.
(18) By the host of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trade, you have profaned your holy places; so I brought a fire from your midst; it shall devour you, and I will give you for ashes on the earth, before the eyes of all who see you.
(19) All who know you among the peoples shall be astonished at you; you shall be terrors, and you will not be forever.’”

We see no evidence here that Ezekiel was prophesying of Satan, a heavenly creature gone bad, existing before man was created. Furthermore, there is nothing in the Scriptures that says Satan was ever an “anointed cherub.” Such doctrine contradicts Jesus, Who said Satan (the Devil) was a liar and murderer from the very beginning:

“You are of the Devil as father, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and did not abide in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44 MKJV).

Before Adam and Eve sinned, it was declared of the serpent God created:

“Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, ‘Yea, has God said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’” (Genesis 3:1)

What beginning was the Lord talking about in reference to the Devil? Mankind’s? The earth’s? Heaven’s? The answer is simple enough: He spoke of the serpent’s (Satan’s) beginning, which came on the sixth day. Isn’t that the most reasonable conclusion?

Then there is this passage:

Isaiah 14:4-17 MKJV
(4) “You shall take up this song against the king of Babylon and say, ‘How the exacter, the gold gatherer has ceased!
(5) The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers
(6) who struck peoples in wrath, a blow without turning away, ruling the nations in anger, a persecution without restraint.
(7) All the earth is at rest and is quiet; they break out into singing.
(8) Yea, the fir trees rejoice at you, the cedars of Lebanon, saying, “Since you have fallen, no woodcutter will come up against us.”
(9) Hell from below is moved for you, to meet you at your coming. It stirs up the dead for you, all the he-goats of the earth. It has raised from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
(10) All of them shall speak and say to you, “Are you also as weak as we? Are you like us?”
(11) Your pride is brought down to the grave, and the noise of your harps. The maggot is spread under you, and the worms cover you.
(12) How you are fallen from the heavens, O shining star, son of the morning! [The KJV says “Lucifer.”] How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!
(13) For you have said in your heart, “I will go up to the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north.
(14) I will go up above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.”
(15) Yet you shall be brought down to Hell, to the sides of the Pit.
(16) Those who see you shall stare and closely watch you, saying, “Is this the man who made the earth to tremble; who shook kingdoms;
(17) who made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed its cities; who did not open the house for his prisoners?”’”

These words were spoken to the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, to whom God had granted great and glorious power. He conquered and gathered all the surrounding nations under his domain. God made him the head of gold, as Daniel told him. Nebuchadnezzar reigned over the greatest empire in history to this day:

“You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of Heaven has given you a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wherever the sons of men, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens live, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all. You are this head of gold” (Daniel 2:37-38 MKJV).

As Daniel informs us, Nebuchadnezzar became proud, and God brought him down:

Daniel 4:28-34 MKJV
(28) All this came on King Nebuchadnezzar.
(29) At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon.
(30) The king spoke and said, “Is this not great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty?”
(31) While the word was in the king's mouth, a voice fell from Heaven, saying, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken. The kingdom has departed from you.
(32) And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the animals of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen, and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He will.”
(33) The same hour the thing was fulfilled on Nebuchadnezzar. And he was driven from men, and ate grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of the heavens, until his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws.
(34) And at the end of days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to Heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored Him Who lives forever, Whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His rule is from generation to generation.

Where did the king of Babylon come from? Was he not a descendant of Adam, who was the “shining star, son of the morning” in Eden? Doesn’t Isaiah refer to the lineage of the son of God, Adam, who was corrupted by the serpent in Eden?

Wasn’t Adam the “anointed cherub that covers” (Ezekiel 28), ruling in Eden until he fell, partaking of the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, thinking it would make him wise, knowing good and evil, as God?

Genesis 3:2-6 MKJV
(2) And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden.
(3) But of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
(4) And the serpent said to the woman, “You shall not surely die,
(5) for God knows that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as God, knowing good and evil.”
(6) And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasing to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make wise, she took of its fruit, and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.

We know by the Lord’s own words that Satan wasn't an angel that was good then went bad. Satan was never “good” except in the sense that he was created as purposed. There was never a morally good dragon or serpent. Jesus said so. Let’s believe Him and dispense with the confusion found in explanations for things carnal men don’t understand. We err when we read into the Bible what isn’t there or ignore what is there.

But who is Satan? Read The Origin and Identity of Satan for further explanation.

Consider the alternative to believing Satan was a good angel gone bad: Instead of looking at man’s existence as one long history of spoilation at the hands of an arch nemesis, know that God, our sovereign Lord, uses the evil He created (Isaiah 45:5-7) for good. Glory to His Name!

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Diabolical Doctrine 36) The soul is immortal

Do men have immortal souls? What do the Scriptures say?

“He Who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, Who alone has immortality, Who dwells in unapproachable light, Whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen” (1 Timothy 6:15-16 ESV).

God alone has immortality, which means no man is immortal in his own right or power. The Scriptures confirm this by saying eternal life only happens through the Lord Jesus Christ:

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the Resurrection and the Life! He who believes in Me, though he die, yet he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die’” (John 11:25-26 MKJV).

“But when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and when this mortal shall put on immortality, then will take place the word that is written, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?’” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55 MKJV)

Without Him Who is life, there is no life or immortality. With and in Him, there is no death.

Obviously the Lord’s and the Scripture’s definitions of “life” and “death” are different from man’s. In one place the Lord says, “Let the dead bury the dead” (Matthew 8:22). By this we know being sentient and having consciousness doesn’t qualify as being alive to God. To be alive, one must be connected to, and in harmony with, Him.

Adam and Eve died the very day they ate of the Tree of Knowledge:

“But you shall not eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17 MKJV).

They were cut off from the spiritual life and consciousness of God right then and there. When He came looking for them, they were fearful, ashamed, hiding, conscious of nudity, blaming others, and giving excuses; pain and sorrow were suddenly upon them. They were cast out of the Garden of Eden, forbidden to partake of the Tree of Life, and where they went and toiled by the sweat of their brow, the ground was cursed. These were all the consequences of their disobedience, all marks of the state of death.

They died the day they ate, not centuries later when they ended their physical presence on earth and were buried.

While on earth, they were still conscious, even as were the dead to whom Jesus referred - “Let the dead bury the dead.” But they were cut off from God’s life – they were dead to God and His Kingdom.

Concerning immortality, existence has been confused with life. Just because unbelievers who physically die go on existing in the next realm doesn’t mean they are immortal. Both those with and without bodies are dead when separated from God by sin. They have no immortality because they lack eternal life.

Unbelievers who physically die aren’t forgotten by God or left in their death state forever. Otherwise, why did Jesus Christ die to be their Lord and Savior?

“And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He Who was ordained of God to be the Judge of the living and the dead” (Acts 10:42 MKJV).

“Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming in which all those in the tombs will hear His voice. And they will come out, the ones having done good into a resurrection of life; and the ones having practiced evil into a resurrection of judgment” (John 5:28-29 LITV).

All will be judged, in this world or the next, until God has put away the last enemy for good.

“The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Corinthians 15:26 ESV).

What remains after Jesus Christ has put away death in all? Life in Him for all!

Read The Good News and other writings in The Restitution of All Things.

Consider the alternative to believing the doctrine of the unconditional immortality of the soul: Rather than arguing about whether men have immortal souls or not, look to Him Who Alone is Immortal, Who has the victory and has the keys to Hell and death. Without Him there is no life or immortality, whether in this realm or the next.

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Diabolical Doctrine 37) The King James Version is the perfect Word of God

Is the King James Authorized Version the Perfect Word of God?

There are those who believe only in the King James Version of the Bible. They declare that all other versions but the KJV are corrupt or fall short in some way. Most of these declare that the KJV is perfect, to the letter, without error. Such a notion is the result of nothing more than ignorance and pride, which serve to breed idolatry. I will prove, in this writing, that those who worship the KJV as being the perfect Word of God are in error.

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Diabolical Doctrine 38) It is OK to use or display religious images, icons, and likenesses

While God prohibits making or having images in a context of worship, cults, as those who do their own thing outside of Him, often make or have them. Whereas these things are seen by man as godly, and indicative of piety, they are a sure sign of false religion and a continuation of pagan traditions and practices dressed up as “Christian.” These are the very things the children of Israel were told to completely destroy, a command that is indicative of how truly odious to God, and dangerous to man, these things are.

The Lord Jesus Christ came to give us life, not empty and deceptive representations. In the beginning He sent out His disciples and apostles, who, being raised as Jews and knowing the Law, did not have or use images, and likewise taught the Gentiles to abstain from the "pollution of idols." Paul said to the men of Athens, a city full of idols (which are the product of men making God in their own image):

"Then being offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like gold or silver or stone, engraved by art and man's imagination. Truly, then, God overlooking the times of ignorance, now He strictly commands all men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:29-30).

True faith is knowing and seeing God as He is, and not as men imagine Him to be. The latter is the works of men (cults), the paths of the destroyer. The former is the rock on which His church is built. We cover this topic in greater depth, with more explanation and practical examples, in Religious Images, Icons, and Likenesses.

CONSIDER THE ALTERNATIVE TO THIS DOCTRINE: IF YOU KEEP GOD'S INSTRUCTIONS OF NOT HAVING ANY IMAGES, INSTEAD OF FOLLOWING DUMB AND POWERLESS IDOLS, YOU WILL BE FOLLOWING HIM, AND WILL, THEREBY, BE ON THE PATH TO KNOWING AND BECOMING LIKE HIM, THE LIVING CREATOR, RATHER THAN LIKE THE LIFELESS IMAGES CONCEIVED BY MEN.

"The images of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but no voice, they have eyes, but they do not see; they have ears, but no hearing; and there is no breath in their mouths. Those who make them are like them; and so is everyone who puts his hope in them" (Psalms 135:15-18 Bible in Basic English).

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Diabolical Doctrine 39) Some are predestinated to burn in hell forever

True Hope for Dutch Reform Church Members and All Calvin Doctrine Victims

This article contains the true answers from God for those who believe, or were taught, the false doctrine from Calvin that God has predestinated them to burn in hell forever, time without end. There is a time to stop drinking from the poisonous doctrines of men mixed in with Biblical Truth, and to start drinking from Jesus Christ alone, Who gives the water of life freely to whosoever wills.

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Diabolical Doctrine 40) One cannot see God's face and live

Seeing God and Living

Interpreting the Bible requires spiritual revelation. A case in point: It is written that no man can see God’s face and live, yet many have done that very thing - it requires spiritual enlightenment, rather than a literal understanding, to know what God means. Then there are the wicked who profess to love and serve Jesus Christ, yet carnally interpret the Scripture to condemn those who have seen Him, not knowing they condemn themselves.

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Diabolical Doctrine 41) Deathbed conversions to Christ

It is evident that human nature will be most vulnerable to get someone "right with God" before they pass on. Men will take advantage of that, but whether or not they do, people are inclined to press for "salvation" at such times as these, when there is no call for it. Such is the work of the "righteous" (selfish, really) flesh and not of the Lord. Consider: Where in the Biblical record do you ever see a deathbed conversion? Besides the one place we will mention, there is no such occasion. And without the two or three witnesses required, the matter is not established before God.

Considering the manner of life of the children of faith in the Scriptures, you will not find one instance where saints sought to convert a person to faith at the time of death. That is because nothing whatsoever is commanded or taught by God that would induce one to coerce or cajole last minute professions of faith from anybody. Such would not be true faith. Men of faith die as men of faith and the wicked die in their sins.

There is not even a whiff in the Scriptures of the kind of thinking that is prevalent today, which compels men to be converted “before it is too late,” lest they end up in the fires of eternal torment. The reason there is no such panic found in the Scriptures is because there is no such thing as eternal torment, as men have conceived it. Never came that thought or expression from God, and it was never taught by His servants. (Read our section The Restitution of All Things, particularly The True, Scriptural Meanings of “Forever,” “Everlasting,” and “Hell.”)

Instead, we find this instruction from God and attitude among His saints:

“He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still” (Revelation 22:11 KJV).

Men have come up with the nasty notion of eternal torment as a way to frighten and control others for their own gain. They have created religious organizations, which outlive individual members and remain to collect more souls and inheritances. These are the beneficiaries of a carrot and stick program. The carrot is being on the right side, destined for eternal bliss in heaven; the stick is being on the wrong side and going into the never-ending flames of hell.

Motivated by the prospect of great gain as opposed to the worst possible outcome of loss and pain, people are converted to a carnal faith, which has nothing to do with Jesus Christ, the Truth, and His faith.

So where in the Scriptures does anyone find the idea that one can be converted on his deathbed, thereby gaining access to Paradise? The following is the one and only incidence:

Luke 23:39-43 MKJV
(39) And one of the hanged criminals blasphemed Him, saying, If you are Christ, save Yourself and us.
(40) But answering, the other rebuked him, saying, Do you not fear God, since you are in the same condemnation?
(41) And we indeed justly so, for we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this Man has done nothing amiss.
(42) And he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when You come into Your Kingdom.
(43) And Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you, Today you shall be with Me in Paradise.

This report in Luke says that one of the thieves crucified with the Lord believed on Him and was saved. However, the story of the repentant thief crucified with Jesus is not true. Read The Book of Luke Corrupted - A Deathbed Conversion Tale.

This story exists because the devisers of it want to rule over men, instead of having God ruling in men. By the use of treacherous doctrine, they have somewhat to gain of this world’s goods.

I have often heard of how the Catholic Church was guilty of extorting possessions or fortunes of any degree from people on their deathbeds, leading these vulnerables to believe that they could buy their way out of Hell and Purgatory to Heaven by leaving their estates to the Roman Catholic Church or to the priest performing the ritual of Last Rites (also called Extreme Unction), which is a control measure over men’s souls.

Think of it. Many have believed they can live their lives as they please and repent at the last minute, enjoying the best of both worlds. Of course, they may not consider that they could die suddenly, without warning, but the love of mammon handily clouds reasoning. The charlatans of the cloth permit men to think such presumptuous thoughts because if they do, and consequently find themselves in a vulnerable state at death, they are liable to sign away anything to save their souls from eternal torment, another concocted evil doctrine used to supply motivation here.

The doctrine of deathbed conversion is false and the story of the repentant thief serves as the pretext. The story is the one and only witness to that doctrine in all of Scripture, because the story is spurious.

So what of all the deathbed conversions people hear about?

“I pleaded with Dad to receive Christ before he died, and he finally did.”

“Yes, just before he went to the electric chair, he made his peace with God.”

Even in the inauthentic version of the event with the thieves in Luke, there was no pleading or inducement to confess faith coming from the Lord. It was unnecessary; simply reporting the result of a last minute change of heart of the one thief effectively delivers the message: “Be inspired to confess Christ with your lips. See how the Lord welcomed the confessing thief into Paradise without question or hesitation.”

While the Lord does not cast off any who come to Him, that isn’t how things work. Paradise, the Kingdom of Heaven, is within and comes by an inner change that takes place over time. “He that endures to the end shall be saved,” the Lord said (Matthew 10:22). The apostle Peter describes the process:

2 Peter 1:1-11 MKJV
(1) Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of our God and our Savior Jesus Christ,
(2) Grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
(3) according as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him Who has called us to glory and virtue,
(4) through which He has given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, so that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
(5) But also in this very thing, bringing in all diligence, filling out your faith with virtue, and with virtue, knowledge;
(6) and with knowledge, self-control, and with self-control, patience, and with patience, godliness,
(7) and with godliness, brotherly kindness, and with brotherly kindness, love.
(8) For if these things are in you and abound, they make you to be neither idle nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(9) For he in whom these things are not present is blind and cannot see afar off and has forgotten that he was purged from his sins in the past.
(10) Therefore, brothers, rather be diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things, you shall never fall.
(11) For so an entrance shall be ministered to you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Now, with the spurious Scripture in Luke and the diabolical teaching of deathbed conversion, people are presented with a false gospel of “accepting Christ” in their moment of ultimate weakness and vulnerability, as if they will then be ushered into the Kingdom with complete salvation. Nowhere is repentance or the opportunity to exercise newfound faith for spiritual growth mentioned or considered. It is all about, “Remember me, Lord,” and finding oneself transported into Paradise as if by magic pixie dust.

But we know that one enters the Kingdom through much tribulation:

“And one of the elders answered, saying to me, Who are these who are arrayed in white robes, and from where do they come? And I said to him, Sir, you know. And he said to me, These are the ones who came out of the great tribulation and have washed their robes, and have whitened them in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and they serve Him day and night in His temple. And He sitting on the throne will dwell among them” (Revelation 7:13-15 MKJV).

No, we can’t believe what men say, especially when they are coerced or emotionally finagled, but we can believe what God says. Is it possible for a conversion at death? Yes! All things are possible to God; but we can also know His ways and learn them, so that we might have fellowship with Him, guide men aright, and not be deceived or fill ourselves and others with false hopes and notions. Better to believe the truth.

CONSIDER THE ALTERNATIVE TO THIS DOCTRINE: IF I NO LONGER FEAR DEATH AS THE DECIDER OF MEN’S FATES, I CAN BE FREE TO WORSHIP GOD AS THE DECIDER, TRUSTING IN HIM AND KNOWING NOT A SPARROW FALLS WITHOUT HIS KNOWLEDGE. HE IS THE SAVIOR OF ALL MEN, NOT DEPENDING ON THEM OR WAITING ON THEIR DECISIONS, BUT MAKING THEM HAPPEN WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT.

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Diabolical Doctrine 42) God does only good, not evil

There are many presumed ministers of Christ who teach that God only wants and does the good things that happen to us, but never the evil. This is fanciful, flesh-satisfying, anti-Christ doctrine from Hell. We better believe that God is in full control, doing both good and evil, or face the consequences of taking the broad way to destruction. Otherwise, why are we told to fear Him? “Behold, the goodness and severity of God....”

God Is Sovereign: Man Is Presumptuous

A religious person asks Paul to comment on Andrew Wommack’s sermon that argues against God’s sovereignty (His determination of all things). Why do people oppose this truth? Because they presume to be in charge themselves, and wield their religious convictions as the power of God to accomplish what they will. This is seen with Wommack, and the one who follows his teaching.

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Diabolical Doctrine 43) The Bible is the ultimate authority

It is the dreadful nature of men to jump at worship of anything other than Jesus Christ, the Only One Worthy. Besides every sort of creature or cause, they will worship a man of God, as did the Pharisees Moses; they will worship worshipping, as do all religious people; they will worship doctrine, even true doctrine; and they will worship the Holy Scriptures, which testify of Jesus Christ. As they do all these things, they despise Him.

Read False Christianity Unmasked and Bible Worship Used by Men to Cover Evil.

CONSIDER THE ALTERNATIVE TO WORSHIPPING THE BIBLE: EXALTING THE AUTHOR OF THE SCRIPTURES ABOVE THAT WHICH HE HAS GIVEN FOR OUR EDIFICATION. IF YOU WORSHIP HIM IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH, WILL HE NOT GIVE YOU A PROPER ATTITUDE TOWARDS HIS WORD, AND KEEP YOU FROM WORSHIP OF ANYTHING OTHER THAN HIM?

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Diabolical Doctrine 44) The Lord Jesus Christ is returning soon in a physical body, called the “second coming”

“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to each according as his work is” (Revelation 22:12 MKJV).

What a carrot this false teaching of the Lord’s physical coming has been, dangled before the noses of the religious masses as a titillating and sensational prospect that masks the futility and barrenness of their empty professions of faith. How many have died waiting for Christ’s “soon” return, thereby missing present communion with Him on account of a pie-in-the-sky promise? They are “ever learning and never coming to the knowledge of the Truth,” which Truth is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Did the Lord come to give people vain hopes or abundant life presently? Do those who seek find, or has the Lord left everyone high and dry since His resurrection and ascension? Is the call to faith in Christ a game of musical chairs, a salvation lottery in which only a lucky few over the millennia get to experience the Lord’s appearing and presence? Not at all!

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalms 46:1 MKJV).

“And, behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the world. Amen” (Matthew 28:20 MKJV).

How can the Lord fully save us, if He doesn’t come now and transform us into His image by His Spirit? So what is all this talk about Christ “returning soon,” as if He hasn’t returned and doesn’t come presently to those who look diligently for Him?

“And to those who look for Him He shall appear the second time without sin to salvation” (Hebrews 9:28 MKJV).

Does that mean He will appear only to those who look for Him and are lucky enough to be alive at the right time? Does the Lord play games? Of course not. His return hasn’t been delayed for going on two thousand years now, but took place fifty days after He rose from the dead, just as those who saw the Lord ascend were promised He would return to them:

“Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into the heaven? This same Jesus Who is taken up from you into Heaven, will come in the way you have seen Him going into Heaven” (Acts 1:11 MKJV).

“I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you” (John 14:18 KJV).

The Lord returned at Pentecost, not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. In this way, He came to not only be with His disciples, but to live in them. The disciples were immersed in His Spirit, made one with Christ as part of His Body.

Ephesians 5:30-32 MKJV
(30) For we are members of His Body, of His flesh, and of His bones.
(31) “For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two of them shall be one flesh.”
(32) This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church.

This return didn’t only apply to the disciples who knew Christ in the flesh, but to all who have been called by God ever since:

“Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the Name of Jesus Christ to remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all those afar off, as many as the Lord our God shall call’” (Acts 2:38-39 MKJV).

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, which is He. Those baptized in the Spirit are baptized into Christ:

“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many as were baptized into Christ, you put on Christ” (Galatians 3:26-27 MKJV).

Christ returned to be present with and in His people, even as He said to Saul of Tarsus, who had been persecuting Him as he persecuted His people:

Acts 9:1-5 MKJV
(1) And Saul, still breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest
(2) and asked letters from him to Damascus to the synagogues; so that if he found any of the Way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
(3) But in going, it happened as he drew near to Damascus, even suddenly a light from the heaven shone around him.
(4) And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?”
(5) And he said, “Who are you, lord?” And the Lord said, “I am Jesus Whom you persecute. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”

Why should a believer pay heed to the perpetual talk of the Lord’s “soon” coming by those who haven’t experienced His present coming? These same carnal Christians who promote a physical return of Christ reject Him when He comes in His brothers and sisters who have received His Spirit, just like the carnal Jews rejected Him in His flesh and blood:

“For many deceivers have entered into the world, who do not confess Jesus Christ coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the anti-Christ” (2 John 1:7 MKJV).

Those focusing on the Lord’s “soon” coming have taken Satan’s bait, because, like him, they savor the things of man – the flesh and this world. By “waiting” for the Lord to return, they can keep their miserable lives in this world, rather than take up the cross to die and be raised to life with Christ now and forever:

“And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:26 MKJV).

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 KJV).

Satan has made Christ into a physical savior of the flesh, substituting this false Jesus for the Savior of men’s spirits and souls by the cross. The physical savior is the one of the “second coming” preached by men, and the true Savior is the One Who comes and empowers those who believe in Him to walk in the light.

Men have preached a literal coming of the Lord in order to perpetuate the lie that by “accepting” Christ as your Savior, you’re good with God. Instead of seeking Him for present deliverance from sin, you can look forward to an incorruptible body after death, or experience victory upon the Lord’s “soon” return to earth, when He comes to judge the world and delivers His people out of the mess of their own creation. In other words, you’re off the hook and can relax - all will be well.

Of course, this is wishful thinking, skipping the present necessity of putting away sins and taking up the cross, which the Lord accomplishes in those granted repentance, who go on by faith to receive His Spirit and overcome the sin nature by His resurrection life within. This is the keeping, in spirit and in truth, of the three mandated holy Feasts - Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. (Read The Three Degrees.)

The spiritual coming of the Lord, which is crucial for every believer, isn’t a historical event, but a personal one, promised to every child of faith:

“And may the God of Peace Himself sanctify you in all things: that your whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23 DRB).

Without this coming, there’s no sanctification (setting apart to holiness), so how can He not come for us, unless He has lied, along with all the apostles who preach His true, present coming?

Having established, therefore, that the coming of the Lord applies to every true son and daughter of faith, we by no means deny the other momentous event that all saints have been eagerly looking forward to – the consummation of God’s Kingdom on earth. The disciples asked about this:

“And as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the world?’” (Matthew 24:3 MKJV)

We should first note that the disciples weren’t asking about a second coming, because they couldn’t receive or comprehend the death and resurrection of the Lord, which was to take place:

Luke 18:31-34 MKJV
(31) And He took the Twelve and said to them, “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished.
(32) For He will be delivered to the nations and will be mocked and insulted and spat on.
(33) And they will scourge Him and put Him to death, and the third day He will rise again.”
(34) And they did not understand any of these things. And this saying was hidden from them, nor did they know the things which were spoken.

They were expecting something to happen more immediately:

“And as they heard these things, He added and spoke a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and because they thought that the Kingdom of God was about to appear immediately” (Luke 19:11 MKJV).

The Lord answered His disciples about the end of the world according to what they needed to hear and know about what would be happening in their lives (which principles apply to all believers):

“Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled” (Matthew 24:34 KJV).

Nowhere did the Lord say He would appear physically to them, and He didn’t. He even warned them against those who preached His physical appearing:

Matthew 24:23-26 MKJV
(23) “Then if any man shall say to you, ‘Lo, here is Christ! Or, There!’ Do not believe it.
(24) For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders; so much so that, if it were possible, they would deceive even the elect.
(25) Behold, I have told you beforehand.
(26) Therefore if they shall say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the desert!’ Do not go out. ‘Behold, He is in the secret rooms!’ Do not believe it.”

After His resurrection and before He ascended into Heaven, the Lord confirmed that the physical establishment of His Kingdom with Israel wasn’t an issue for His disciples to be concerned about:

“Then, indeed, these coming together, they asked Him, saying, ‘Lord, do You at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel?’ And He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has put in His Own authority’” (Acts 1:6-7 MKJV).

The restoration of Israel was far in the future, as was the setting up of God’s Kingdom over all the earth, as spoken of in Daniel and Zechariah:

“You watched until a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image upon its feet, which were of iron and clay, and broke them to pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were broken to pieces together. And they became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors. And the wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth” (Daniel 2:34-35 MKJV).

“And the LORD shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall there be One LORD, and His Name One” (Zechariah 14:9 KJV).

So there is the coming all believers experience, the promise of the Father:

“The One testifying these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming quickly. Amen.’ Yes, come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20 LITV)

“Grace and peace be yours from God, Who is, Who was, and Who is to come…” (Revelation 1:4 GNB).

This is the Kingdom of God ruling within:

“But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on, until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s Kingdom” (Matthew 26:29 MKJV).

And there is the consummation of the Lord’s work in His Body, His Kingdom come to rule forever without:

“For the earnest expectation of the creation waits for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creation was not willingly subjected to vanity, but because of Him Who subjected it on hope that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God”
(Romans 8:19-21 MKJV).

Here is a concise summary of this topic from another page on our site:

From David Owuor – Another Self-Exposed Fraud:

Nine: His site says, “The Lord has commanded him to preach Repentance and Holiness and completely return to GOD in order to prepare the way for the Second Coming of The Lord.”

Shouldn’t men repent of sin at all times, never mind with an imminent appearance of the Lord? Besides, men have been speaking of the Lord coming again ever since Paul, John, Jude, and Peter preached, nearly two millennia ago. They all seemed to think He was coming in their day. Did Jesus come, or were they mistaken? It so happens they were right; He did come, but not as men surmise.

Just before His death, Jesus Christ told His disciples He would leave them and then would return. He returned from the grave. He then ascended into Heaven and returned again at Pentecost, coming even to dwell in them.

Forty years later, He came again - an event commonly called Judgment Day or the Day of the Lord - when General Titus with his Roman legions destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple, as Jesus had prophesied.

He came to, and confronted, Saul of Tarsus, asking him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” How was Saul persecuting Jesus? Jesus Christ dwelt in each of the saints Saul was threatening, murdering, and casting into prison; He wasn’t removed from the earth.

Jesus came and came again. He continues to come, but not in a physical, literal body, as men expect in their carnal minds. Jesus Christ comes in His people, in His Body (that’s what’s happening here, as we expose a false prophet by His Spirit).

That isn’t what Owuor is saying about the Lord’s coming. If he was a man of God, he would know how Jesus comes, but Jesus has never come to him, so how could he know? And what does he know of holiness, to which he claims to be calling people, given all the things we have witnessed with him?

Consider the alternative to believing this doctrine: Instead of hoping and waiting for something that has never happened to any saint, you can seek and receive by faith what many saints have had, a fulfilling relationship with the Lord and Savior here and now. Then you will come with Him rather than miss His coming, or worse still, resist His Spirit in an empty profession of faith.

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CONCLUSION OF DIABOLICAL DOCTRINES

It will be these arguments against the prevalent doctrines of devils and not the doctrines themselves which most religious "Christians" call diabolical. So it was in the days of all the prophets and even of the Prophet Himself Who laid down His life which was cruelly taken from Him by those who thought they were doing God service. It is always the true who are left outside and alone, not the false; it is the true who are stoned by word and deed, not the false; it is the true who are hated, not the false. The day of vindication is now here and all things are now being reversed so that all is right side up. The day of the Lord is here. Repent, all those to whom it is given. Again, I say, repent.

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Diabolical Doctrines