Paul a True Apostle – Refuting Scott Nelson
The Exposure of Scott Nelson and His anti-Messianic Doctrine
Abridged Version:
This paper examines the error of Scott Nelson (and others), namely that Paul was a false apostle. Nelson claims that Paul’s teachings contradict Yeshua HaMashiach/Jesus Christ, the God of the Bible.
Paul, however, was a faithful servant of Yeshua HaMashiach to his death. The Father revealed Himself by His Son to Paul, but not to Scott Nelson, who is in darkness and sin, full of pride and presumption.
Nelson considers Paul’s central error to be in the teaching of grace and keeping of the Law, attributing to him falsehood that has been adopted by mainstream Christianity. Nelson writes:
“Yahshua will be returning soon to ascend the throne of his father David and establish the Kingdom of God on earth… the Messianic age foretold by the prophets. The truth needs to be known that Law-less doctrine, as well as presumptuous grace doctrine, will not be tolerated much longer.”
Nelson doesn’t know that Yeshua promised His disciples He would return (“I will come again…”) and He did. He came, He comes, and He will come. Neither does Nelson know that God has never tolerated “Law-less” doctrine. Look at what happened to ancient Israel. Every man reaps what he sows. God judged, judges, and will judge. Nelson’s suggestion that Paul taught a Lawless doctrine or presumptuous grace is pure bunk (See Law and Grace.)
Nelson isn’t the first to pervert Paul’s words. Peter’s ageless words applied at the time he spoke them over 1900 years ago and continue to give warning today:
2 Peter 3:15-16 MKJV
(15) And think of the long-suffering of our Lord as salvation (as our beloved brother Paul also has written to you according to the wisdom given to him
(16) as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable pervert, as also they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction).
The Bible in the Book of Acts tells us Paul was formerly known as Saul of Tarsus. His life in service of the Lord Jesus Christ is recorded in much of Acts by Luke, a physician and beloved brother in the Lord.
According to Nelson, the New Testament is “subject to error and must be held accountable to the truth established in Moses, the Prophets, and Yeshua.” Given Nelson’s rejection of Paul as a false apostle, therefore the Book of Acts must be even less trustworthy in his eyes than other parts of the New Testament. Furthermore, if wrong in Acts, Luke’s Gospel also can’t be trusted.
Taking this line of reasoning to its logical conclusion, if Luke’s Gospel is so like the other Gospels, how can we confidently trust the other Gospels, which resemble in many points the one written by an untrustworthy man?
Besides Paul’s epistles, which comprise about a third of the New Testament, we would have to scrap both of Peter’s letters as well, for he refers favorably to Paul in one of them. If Peter can’t be trusted in his assessment of Paul’s character and doctrine, he is incapable of true doctrine himself, so why should we believe anything else Peter has to say?
With such argument as Nelson presents, how can he justify using the Gospels and Scriptures as he does to preach of Yeshua HaMashiach?
In his introduction to chapter two of his book (http://www.judaismvschristianity.com/heavenorhell.htm), Nelson writes:
“History records in the book of Acts, that Paul’s own contemporaries accused him of teaching against God’s Law. As head of the first Messianic church in Jerusalem, James, the brother of Yahshua, began the inquiry into Paul’s teachings, but because the story takes an abrupt turn after Paul’s arrest in the temple, we never hear from James again and the issue was never settled in the record of Acts.”
If Nelson is going to give credibility to Luke’s recounting of this story in Acts, then how is the matter not settled? Luke went on to say that Paul complied with James and the elders, taking the four men with vows into the temple as the days of purification ended.
So how can Nelson acknowledge the story line as true when he thinks it suits his message, but then ignore it when it doesn’t? Nelson can’t have it both ways. Is not his exposure complete on this point alone?
What the other apostles did do was enquire about the slander of murderous enemies and perhaps others who accused or suspected Paul of ungodliness. There is a great deal of difference between clarifying and accusing. With Paul having been away, was it not right for the apostles and elders at Jerusalem to examine him and see how he was doing?
Paul’s revelation from Yeshua was that ceremonial law was no longer needful, nor circumcision, for the shadows were fulfilled in Christ’s finished work on the cross. But Paul, as he declared to the Roman saints, was not contrary to the Law of God, as summarized in the Ten Commandments. Here are his own words on the matter:
(31) Do we then make the Law void through faith? Let it not be! But we establish the Law.
Paul declares that the saints establish, not do away with, the Law, contrary to the enemies of the Law and the Gospel, namely, Scott Nelson.
At the same time, Paul made it very clear that men, Jew or Gentile, are not justified by the Law:
Romans 3:28-31 MKJV
(28) Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the works of the Law.
(29) Or is He the God of the Jews only, and not also of the nations? Yes, of the nations also,
(30) since it is one God Who will justify circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.
Faith is the key and not circumcision or uncircumcision. Scott Nelson has no faith at all, only knowledge he has misunderstood and perverted. Glory-seeking manpleasers do that.
Paul submitted to the elders to make peace with those who misunderstood him, making himself as under the Law to win those under the Law, according to his word to the Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 9:19-21 MKJV
(19) For though I am free from all, yet I have made myself servant to all, so that I might gain the more.
(20) And to the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might gain the Jews. To those who are under the Law, I became as under the Law, so that I might gain those who are under the Law.
(21) To those who are outside Law, I became as outside Law (not being outside Law to God, but under the Law to Christ), so that I might gain those who are outside Law.
If any might be accused of not upholding the Law, would it not be the other apostles and elders, those Nelson says had it right, like James? These elders said they would not require of the Gentiles circumcision or other former laws, but four.
Acts 15:13-20 MKJV
(13) And after they were silent, James answered, saying, Men, brothers, listen to me.
(14) Even as Simon has declared how God at the first visited the nations to take out of them a people for His name.
(15) And the words of the Prophets agree to this; as it is written,
(16) “After this I will return and will build again the tabernacle of David which has fallen down; and I will build again its ruins, and I will set it up,
(17) so those men who are left might seek after the Lord, and all the nations on whom My Name has been called, says the Lord, Who does all these things.”
(18) All His works are known to God from eternity.
(19) Therefore my judgment is that we do not trouble those who have turned to God from among the nations,
(20) but that we write to them that they should abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
Scott uses the New Testament to prove Paul false, but does not believe the New Testament record to be true. Go figure! So it is with the darkened ones. Manpleasers must contradict themselves; there’s no alternative.
So who is Nelson trying to impress? Jews? Unbelieving Jews? Will he betray the Lord Jesus Christ, or if he will, Yahshua HaMashiach, with a kiss?
Full Version:
The apostle Paul wrote these words to the Galatians :
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth 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).
Not only did Paul mean every word of that statement, he lived the reality. He was (and IS) those words and those words are him.
Why Are We Writing This Paper?
Confused seekers of truth have come asking us for counsel concerning the apostle Paul. Their quandary was due in part to having red Scott Nelson’s Yahshua/Jesus and Judaism versus Paul and Christianity, a book he has written and published at http://www.judaismvschristianity.com/.
NOTE: I intermittently use the Hebrew Name “Yeshua HaMashiach,” instead of “Jesus Christ” because Nelson has a problem with the English name, Jesus. He thinks it is pagan, and that we are speaking of two different persons, the true Messiah (Yeshua) and the false Messiah or Christ (Jesus). But in his darkness of carnality, Nelson errs, as can only be expected (see how; read Hebrew Names for God); Jesus Christ and Yeshua HaMashiach are one and the same. END NOTE.
We address Scott Nelson’s error, namely that Paul was a false apostle, and present the necessary refutation for all who want the truth. Scott’s site is brimming with error, which is understandable if the eye isn’t sound, as Jesus said:
“The light of the body is the eye. Therefore when your eye is sound, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is evil, your body also is full of darkness. Therefore take heed that the light in you is not darkness” (Luke 11:34-35 MKJV).
Paul wrote:
“But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:14-16 MKJV).
There is only one way one can know the truth, and that is to know Him Who is The Truth, Yeshua HaMashiach Adonai, the Lord Jesus Christ. Without knowing Him, one is in darkness, for He is the Light of all men (John 1:4). But one cannot know our Lord and Savior by going to church, praying, fasting, being good, doing good works and sacrifices, by association with certain people, or by studying and reading the Bible or any other literature. Any of these the saints will do, God willing, but unless the Father draws a soul to the Son, unless God reveals Himself through His Son to any man, that man can search, study, work for God, fast, and pray all he will, he will remain in darkness, bound in his sin nature, separated from, and oblivious to, God.
The Father revealed Himself by His Son to the apostle Paul, but not to Scott Nelson, who is in darkness and sin, full of pride and presumption. Both by the Scriptures he accepts and rejects, we will prove his doctrine to be error, although those who read this will need revelation from God or they will remain in their darkness, as Nelson does in his.
Let it be known to all that the apostle Paul in no way contradicts Yeshua HaMashiach/Jesus Christ, the God of the Bible, at any time or in any way. Paul was a faithful servant of Yeshua HaMashiach to his death.
Let those who are ignorant and who keep their lives to glorify themselves have their mouths forever shut, and let the one who laid down his life in faithfulness to the Messiah of Israel and of the world for our sakes speak for all to hear.
Let’s go to Nelson’s Purpose of this site.
He writes:
“The purpose of this website is to offer what has been accomplished in the writing of Yahshua/Jesus and Judaism versus Paul and Christianity to those who are interested. It is being written because I firmly believe that God’s patience with man is fast coming to an end.”
During several times in my life, a sense of impending judgment would come; I expected it upon certain people, a family, my country, or the world. Little did I know it was coming for me. I began to realize that in having the feeling, judgment was invariably coming for me.
That is, until the day the Lord’s judgment of me was complete and I was prepared as His instrument. Now, He has put the Sword of Judgment in my mouth for such as Nelson and those who believe and teach lies.
Interestingly, though the judgment of others approaches, I don’t so readily sense it, whether it comes through me or through others. I know by principle and by the way the Lord works that it comes, but I no longer sense its approach. Then, when it has come, I nod my head in understanding.
Judgment comes because people need it. Scott Nelson has felt the coming judgment on himself. He will tell me so. God’s patience was coming to an end for him. It has been several years, since 2011, that I intended to address by this document his wicked public stance against the Lord, Yeshua HaMashiach in the apostle Paul. It has sat on my desktop all this time. I just didn’t get to it.
There can be no doubt Scott Nelson’s judgment, one of wrath, will occur in God’s perfect timing and way.
Nelson writes:
“Yahshua will be returning soon to ascend the throne of his father David and establish the Kingdom of God on earth… the Messianic age foretold by the prophets. The truth needs to be known that Law-less doctrine, as well as presumptuous grace doctrine, will not be tolerated much longer.”
In his unpreparedness, Scott doesn’t know that Yeshua has returned and is now in the process of establishing His Kingdom on earth. Yeshua promised His disciples He would return (“I will come again…”) and He did. He came, He comes, and He will come.
Neither does Scott know that God has never tolerated “Law-less” doctrine. Every man reaps what he sows. What does he think happened to ancient Israel and why? God judged, judges, and will judge. Scott’s suggestion that Paul taught a Lawless doctrine or presumptuous grace is pure bunk, and we will prove it.
As for a “presumptuous grace doctrine,” I’m not sure how that differs in his mind from a “Law-less” doctrine. But it’s true that many think to be free of the moral Law of God since “accepting Christ into their hearts.” Their thinking is that Jesus paid the price for their sins in full and so they have no more obligations to live Law-abiding, holy lives. The fact is He enters a person so that they will live Law-abiding, holy lives.
Isn’t it remarkable that if children of iniquity (lawlessness) do keep laws, it’s only because they fear the secular authorities and systems rather than God, by Whose authority many of man’s laws are made? To false professors of faith, breaking God’s Prime Law is okay with God but breaking secondary secular laws is not okay with man or God? In other words, they fear man and the consequences of doing evil but they don’t fear God.
And has God not judged such attitude and behavior? All around us, I see the judgments come on people who live presumptuous religious lives, and suffer for it, though they often don’t realize why they’re suffering.
Nor does God tolerate doctrine steeped in men’s religious laws. Did the Pharisees survive the Roman destruction?
Scott writes:
“It is also my hope that others will offer moral support and constructive criticism in the interest of the truths that have been outlined. At the end of each chapter is an input link for those who have something to offer. Even if input concerns minor things such as spelling or grammar, it will be greatly appreciated.”
You will have your input from us, Scott, and while what we must say is destructive for your diabolical doctrine, it will be constructive for you and those who hear it.
The Scriptures or Scott Nelson – Which Will It Be?
Deuteronomy 30:15-20 MKJV
(15) Behold! I have set before you today life and good, and death and evil,
(16) in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, so that you may live and multiply. And the LORD your God shall bless you in the land where you go to possess it.
(17) But if you turn away your heart, so that you will not hear, but shall be drawn away and worship other gods and serve them,
(18) I declare to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days on the land where you pass over Jordan to go to possess it.
(19) I call Heaven and earth to record today against you. I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life, so that both you and your seed may live,
(20) so that you may love the LORD your God, and that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him. For He is your life and the length of your days, so that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give it to them.
In his book, Scott presumes to prove Paul to be a false apostle and anti-Christ. The Bible in the Book of Acts (which Nelson rejects) tells us Paul was formerly known as Saul of Tarsus. His life in service of the Lord Jesus Christ is recorded in much of Acts by Luke, a physician and beloved brother in the Lord.
According to Nelson, the Book of Acts can’t be trusted as Divine Scripture, nor, says he, can we trust any of Paul’s epistles, which comprise about a third of the New Testament. Furthermore, in effect he’s saying we must reject Luke’s Gospel, for Luke wrote Acts. If wrong in Acts, his Gospel can’t be trusted.
Taking this line of reasoning to its logical conclusion, if Luke’s Gospel is so like the other Gospels, how can we confidently trust the other Gospels, which resemble in many points the one written by an untrustworthy man?
Considerable mention is made of John Mark in Acts, the man who wrote the Gospel of Mark. With such argument as Nelson presents, how can he justify using the Gospels at all to preach of Yeshua HaMashiach?
We would have to scrap both of Peter’s letters as well, for he refers favorably to Paul in one of them. If Peter can’t be trusted in his assessment of Paul’s character and doctrine, he is incapable of true doctrine himself, so why should we believe anything else Peter says?
Unlearned and unstable souls will be and have been shaken by Nelson and company’s insidious doctrine. To us, they lament with reasonable logic, “If we can’t believe Paul, how can we believe any of the Bible? If Paul’s, Luke’s, and Peter’s teachings are false, how do we know that the works of the rest of the New Testament writers, Matthew, Mark, James, Jude, and John, are of God?” This is legitimate reasoning.
With such argument as Nelson presents, how can he justify using the Gospels as he does to preach of Yeshua HaMashiach?
Following through by reasonable logic, doubters must come to ask the inevitable, “If the New Testament can’t be trusted, which has been believed by hundreds of millions, how can we confidently believe that the Old Testament is trustworthy as a record of God?” Thus, Nelson condemns the entire Bible.
The Word of God is plainly trash to his wisdom. In Nelson’s hands, the entire Bible becomes a filthy, dangerous rag to be burned. But which is it that is filthy and dangerous, the inspired Scriptures that transform lives for the great good, or the corrupt mind of an unregenerate soul that maligns and defiles them and those who read them with his misinterpretations?
What it boils down to is a choice of whether we believe Luke, Paul, and Peter – Spirit-filled men who, as a matter of record, laid down their lives for our sakes, as witnessed by many, or Scott Nelson, who has never received the Spirit of God and who seeks only to glorify himself.
Nelson isn’t the first to pervert Paul’s words. Peter’s ageless words applied at the time he spoke them over 1900 years ago and continue to give warning today:
2 Peter 3:15-17 MKJV
(15) And think of the long-suffering of our Lord as salvation (as our beloved brother Paul also has written to you according to the wisdom given to him
(16) as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable pervert, as also they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction).
(17) Therefore, beloved, knowing beforehand, beware lest being led away with the error of the lawless, you fall from your own steadfastness.
By Paul’s testimony and letters to the Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, and to Timothy, I came to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, bless God! By Paul’s doctrine and that of Peter, I came to know Yeshua HaMashiach, a.k.a. the Lord Jesus Christ. My life was turned 180 degrees, inside out, upside down, from death to life and darkness to light.
I was delivered from the power of sin to the power of God, transformed to do good instead of evil, to give instead of take, and to love instead of hate. My burden of guilt for all my sins was removed – all this by Paul’s doctrine! Is that so bad? That’s what Truth does to one when embraced. If this is Paul’s fruit, and it is, don’t you think we could use more of his kind in this sorely troubled world? Read Victor Hafichuk’s Testimony.
Scott Nelson is a nominal Christian or Messianic, whatever he chooses to call himself, but he doesn’t have, or speak by, the Spirit (Ruach) of Yeshua HaMashiach, by YHWH, by Jesus Christ, Creator of Heaven and earth, Lord and Savior of all mankind. Had I listened to Scott Nelson, I would still be in the bondage of my sins (and firmly locked in my own righteousness, as is Nelson), held more tightly than ever in Satan’s grip of darkness, helplessness, torment, guilt, and desolation, without justified hope.
All those reading and believing Scott Nelson will surely remain in their sins, darkness, destruction, and despair, guaranteed. Lies breed death and hell.
I thank Yeshua He provided men who laid down their lives to testify to me of Him, and that I didn’t fall prey to a man who hasn’t laid down his life, Scott Nelson, a blasphemer and persecutor of the saints in Messiah Yeshua.
“They shall put you out of the synagogue. But an hour is coming that everyone who kills you will think that he bears God service. And they will do these things to you because they have not known the Father nor Me” (John 16:2-3 MKJV).
Is the apostle Paul anti-Christ? Is he the false apostle Scott Nelson claims him to be? As Saul was heading out to persecute more believers, Jesus Christ halted and turned him around on the road to Damascus. He was saved by our God and Savior, Yeshua HaMashiach, and it is this saved Saul and his work as Paul the apostle by the power of the Holy Spirit that Nelson now maligns.
Acts 9:1-6 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.
(6) And trembling and astonished, he said, Lord, what will You have me to do? And the Lord said to him, Arise and go into the city, and you shall be told what you must do.
Saul would come to be known as Paul the apostle, joining himself to the saints he once persecuted. Scott, in spiritual nature, identifies and aligns himself with the old, unregenerate, persecuting, blaspheming, murderous, anti-Christ Saul of Tarsus, devoting his energies and website to persecute Yeshua HaMashiach, Who sovereignly chose to dwell in Paul, the new creature in Him.
Nelson apparently believes to do God service, presuming to uphold the faith of the fathers – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, when in fact he foolishly works to destroy that very faith, even as Saul of Tarsus served to do so until he was saved:
“But only they were hearing that he who then persecuted us, now preaches the faith which he once ravaged. And they glorified God in me” (Galatians 1:23-24 MKJV).
Nelson has become the anti-Christ blasphemer and murderer Saul was. He attacks the one whom Yeshua HaMashiach saved and transformed from an anti-Christ state to one who loved His Lord with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength. Because of his conversion and new heart, Paul gladly laid down his life for the Gospel of Yeshua HaMashiach. And Scott Nelson gladly serves to take Paul’s life today, as well as the lives of those who would believe.
A Lot of Questions for Scott Nelson
In his introduction at chapter two (http://www.judaismvschristianity.com/heavenorhell.htm), Nelson writes:
“What I believe to be the truth concerning Paul the supposed apostle may appear new to most Christians, but the argument is nothing new. It is as old as Paul himself. History records in the book of Acts, that Paul’s own contemporaries accused him of teaching against God’s Law. As head of the first Messianic church in Jerusalem, James, the brother of Yahshua, began the inquiry into Paul’s teachings, but because the story takes an abrupt turn after Paul’s arrest in the temple, we never hear from James again and the issue was never settled in the record of Acts. I only take up where the story left off and the question was left open. Because Christians have typically paid little attention to the details of this story before, it will naturally appear new to them.”
Let me first ask a simple series of questions of Nelson:
If you are going to give credibility to Luke’s recounting of this story in Acts, then how is the matter not settled? Luke went on to say that Paul complied with James and the elders, taking the four men with vows into the temple as the days of purification ended.
So how can you acknowledge the story line as true when you think it suits your message, but then ignore it when it doesn’t? You can’t have it both ways. Perhaps your exposure is complete on this point alone?
Next, you don’t say who you mean by “Paul’s own contemporaries.” Are you speaking of the Judaizers, who, not having the Spirit of God, could not understand how Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law of God by giving men His Holy Spirit? If those are whom you mean, why should we believe those who don’t know Jesus Christ instead of those who do? Why should murderers seeking to kill Paul be believed? Are not murderers also liars, of the same father, who was a murderer and liar from the beginning?
Are these not the same children of the Devil who persecuted and murdered the Lord Jesus Christ, lying about what happened at His tomb?
However, if you speak of the other apostles as Paul’s contemporaries, there is nowhere in the Scriptures to indicate they accused Paul of anything, much less of teaching against God’s Law. Prove us wrong; show us the Scriptures.
What the other apostles did do was enquire about the slander of murderous enemies and perhaps others who accused or suspected Paul of ungodliness. There is a great deal of difference between clarifying and accusing, is there not? With Paul having been away, was it not right for the apostles and elders at Jerusalem to examine him and see how he was doing? Here is the likely example of clarifying what you may call “accusing”:
Acts 21:17-26 MKJV
(17) And we [Paul and company] being in Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly.
The brethren received Paul gladly.
(18) And on the next day Paul went with us to James. And all the elders were present.
(19) And having greeted them, he related one by one what things God had done among the nations by his ministry.
(20) And hearing, they glorified the Lord, and said to him, You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are who believe, and they are all zealous of the Law.
They rejoiced at how God was using Paul to convert the Gentiles to Christ, and they indicated no question about Paul’s spiritual status. However, there were reports of wrongdoing on Paul’s part, so they asked Paul to demonstrate to them that he was not contrary to the Law of God at all:
(21) And they are informed concerning you, that you teach all the Jews who are among the nations to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, nor to walk after the customs.
Paul’s revelation from Yeshua was that ceremonial law was no longer needful, nor circumcision, for the shadows were fulfilled in Christ’s finished work on the cross. But Paul, as he declared to the Roman saints, was not contrary to the Law of God, as summarized in the Ten Commandments. Here are his own words on the matter:
(31) Do we then make the Law void through faith? Let it not be! But we establish the Law.
Here Paul declares that the saints establish, not do away with, the Law, contrary to the enemies of the Law and the Gospel, namely, Scott Nelson.
At the same time, Paul made it very clear that men, Jew or Gentile, are not justified by the Law:
Romans 3:28-31 MKJV
(28) Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the works of the Law.
(29) Or is He the God of the Jews only, and not also of the nations? Yes, of the nations also,
(30) since it is one God Who will justify circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.
Paul pointed out how Abraham was justified by faith before he was circumcised (Genesis 15:6), so it wasn’t ceremony, sacrifices, works, or circumcision that made Abraham righteous before God, nor would it be so for any of Abraham’s children.
Faith is the key and not circumcision or uncircumcision. Scott Nelson has no faith at all, only knowledge he has misunderstood and perverted.
Back to our Acts scene with Paul and the elders:
(22) What is it therefore? At all events a multitude will come together, for they will hear that you have come.
(23) Therefore do this, what we say to you: We have four men who have a vow on themselves;
(24) taking them, be purified with them, and be at expense for them, so that they may shave their heads. And all may know that what they have been told about you is nothing, but you yourself also walk orderly and keep the Law.
Paul submitted to the elders of the saints to make peace with those who misunderstood him, making himself as under the Law to win those under the Law, according to his word to the Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 9:19-21 MKJV
(19) For though I am free from all, yet I have made myself servant to all, so that I might gain the more.
(20) And to the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might gain the Jews. To those who are under the Law, I became as under the Law, so that I might gain those who are under the Law.
(21) To those who are outside Law, I became as outside Law (not being outside Law to God, but under the Law to Christ), so that I might gain those who are outside Law.
Paul declared to the Corinthians that though he became as one of those he was winning who were outside the Law, he was nevertheless not outside the Law to God but under the Law to Christ. Again, he established himself in the Law, contrary to Scott Nelson.
On with the scene in Acts at Jerusalem with the elders:
(25) And as to the nations who believe, we joined in writing, judging them to observe no such things, except only that they keep themselves from both idol sacrifice, and blood, and a thing strangled, and from fornication.
If any might be accused of not upholding the Law, would it not be the other apostles and elders, those Nelson says had it right, like James? These elders said they would not require of the Gentiles circumcision or other former laws, but four. We can go back to where James made that announcement previously:
Acts 15:13-20 MKJV
(13) And after they were silent, James answered, saying, Men, brothers, listen to me.
(14) Even as Simon has declared how God at the first visited the nations to take out of them a people for His name.
(15) And the words of the Prophets agree to this; as it is written,
(16) “After this I will return and will build again the tabernacle of David which has fallen down; and I will build again its ruins, and I will set it up,
(17) so those men who are left might seek after the Lord, and all the nations on whom My Name has been called, says the Lord, Who does all these things.”
(18) All His works are known to God from eternity.
(19) Therefore my judgment is that we do not trouble those who have turned to God from among the nations,
(20) but that we write to them that they should abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
They were coming against those who insisted on circumcision, which had been the law up to that day. You see that the apostles, elders, and saints were gradually learning the implications of the transition from before the Ultimate Fulfillment of the Law to after the Fulfillment, which was accomplished by Jesus Christ at the cross, resurrection, ascension, and Pentecostal outpouring of His Holy Spirit. There was an adjustment to be made by all. It was the introduction of a new age and dispensation.
As with us, all understanding did not come at once for them. And Paul happened to be one of those who had received these revelations from Jesus Christ personally in his years of wilderness waiting, something Scott Nelson knows nothing of because he has never been in the Kingdom of Heaven, where all true born again believers are.
And the record shows that Paul, with two other witnesses, shared his 14-year spiritual wilderness revelations with Peter, James, John, and the others, before he went into his ministry of preaching them to the Gentiles. He was not secretive about what he received personally from Yeshua HaMashiach:
Galatians 2:1-10 WEB
(1) Then after a period of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus also with me.
(2) I went up by revelation, and I laid before them the Good News which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately before those who were respected, for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain.
(3) But not even Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.
(4) This was because of the false brothers secretly brought in, who stole in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage;
(5) to whom we gave no place in the way of subjection, not for an hour, that the truth of the Good News might continue with you.
(6) But from those who were reputed to be important (whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God doesn’t show partiality to man)—they, I say, who were respected imparted nothing to me,
(7) but to the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the Good News for the uncircumcised, even as Peter with the Good News for the circumcised
(8) (for he who worked through Peter in the apostleship with the circumcised also worked through me with the Gentiles);
(9) and when they perceived the grace that was given to me, James and Cephas and John, they who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcision.
(10) They only asked us to remember the poor—which very thing I was also zealous to do.
Again, all the saints in authority agreed with Paul and supported him and Barnabas.
But of course, Scott won’t believe those reports because as far as he’s concerned, Paul is a false apostle, so why should anyone believe his or Luke’s record? Yet, Nelson accuses Paul of saying things that Paul denies and even refutes.
Scott uses the New Testament to prove Paul false, but does not believe the New Testament record to be true. Go figure! So it is with the darkened ones. Hypocrite!
Continuing with the scene in Acts at Jerusalem with the elders:
(26) Then taking the men on the next day, being purified with them, Paul went into the Temple, declaring the fulfillment of the days of the purification, until an offering should be offered for each of them.
Paul knew there was no need for the ritual in God’s sight, but submitted himself for the sakes of those who thought it was imperative to God to do such things. That is not the mark of a false apostle, but of an apostle of love. He lived what he preached:
Romans 14:13-21 MKJV
(13) Then let us not judge one another any more, but rather judge this, not to put a stumbling-block or an offense toward his brother.
(14) I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing by itself is common; except to him who esteems anything to be common, it is common.
(15) But if your brother is grieved with your food, you no longer walk according to love. Do not with your food destroy him for whom Christ died.
(16) Then do not let your good be spoken evil of,
(17) for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
(18) For he who serves Christ in these things is well-pleasing to God, and approved by men.
(19) So then let us pursue the things of peace, and the things for building up one another.
(20) Do not undo the work of God for food. Truly, all things indeed are clean, but it is bad to the man eating because of a stumbling-block.
(21) It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything by which your brother stumbles, or is offended, or is made weak.
Are those the words of a predatory, self-seeking and serving, anti-Christ charlatan, as Nelson makes Paul out to be? God forbid, because if that is so, we are all lost and without hope. But it is bitter and glory-seeking wolves in sheep’s clothing that would condemn such words and works as those of Paul, the beloved brother who laid down his life on Christ’s behalf that we might have life. I, for one, am eternally indebted to Paul and the price he paid, though I know we ultimately owe our debt to the Lord, Who enabled Paul to do what he did, by God’s grace. Nelson knows nothing of these things.
I said I would primarily stick to Nelson’s error on the apostle Paul, but I couldn’t pass up a glaring manifestation of Scott’s utter darkness. In his next topic, “There’s more than one book of life,” Nelson perverts the truth of John’s words:
“Blessed are those who do His Commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie” (Revelation 22:14,15).
How does he pervert them? He says, “Remember the list of eight crimes that those who were sent to the lake of fire were guilty of in Revelation 21:8? Notice the similar list here in Revelation 22:15 has shrunk to six. Except for the two missing categories this second list is basically identical. The first list begins with the two that are missing in the second… “the cowardly and unbelieving”. By the absence of these two in the second list we can conclude that the difference between them and the first group that was thrown in the lake of fire, is that even though they were guilty of some of the same serious sins, they still took courage and believed.”
Nelson concludes that “dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie” believe and have courage for good! Not only so, but he says they have the true saving faith, for he says, “The Greek word John used and is translated “believe”, carries the same picture that James portrays in his epistle. It is a pro-active faith that demonstrates itself through ‘works’. It is not mere mental assent.”
But Jesus says, “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt and its fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by its fruit. Offspring of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:33-34 MKJV).
Jesus also says, “No one can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24 MKJV).
No, John’s words do not at all suggest that sexual perverts and lovers of lies have saving faith. How ungodly and perverse a gospel Nelson preaches!
And he contradicts himself, for he goes on to say, “One cannot separate what one believes from what one does. These saved individuals outside the city demonstrated some faith and courage by doing some good works…”
How does one mix saving faith and courage with loving and practicing a lie? Apparently, Nelson feels he succeeds at it.
The next question would be, “Does Scott also walk in the other four sins (“dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters”) as he does in loving and practicing lies? The answer is “Yes.” As Jesus said:
“A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruits, nor can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that does not bring forth good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:18-20 MKJV).
How shall one know a tree if it produces more than one kind of product, like apples and thorns? Is it an apple tree or a thorn bush? It can’t be both. But Nelson, in loving his lies, says otherwise. Therefore, not only is he a liar, he is by nature sexually immoral, a murderer, idolater, sorcerer and dog.
What is a dog? Biblically, a dog is unclean; it urinates and defecates where it can do so, will eat its own vomit, fornicates anywhere it can, unless neutered, barks at strangers and will attack and bite them if it feels like it.
Being a murderer, it barks at the saints, for saints are strangers to dogs, sorcerers, murderers, and the sexually immoral. Is this not how Nelson conducts himself toward saints?
What did Jesus through the psalmist say about dogs?
“And You have brought Me into the dust of death. For dogs have circled around Me; the band of spoilers have hemmed Me in, piercers of My hands and My feet” (Psalms 22:16 MKJV).
Another summary by Paul Cohen on behalf of Victor Hafichuk
Nelson says that Paul teaches God made His Law impossible to obey to prove to man that he can’t do it, which keeps man humble and reliant on His grace. Nelson claims that this teaching is reflected by the following verses from Romans:
“But we know that whatever things the Law says, it says to those who are under the Law; so that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may be under judgment before God” (Romans 3:19 MKJV).
“Then where is the boasting? It is excluded. Through what law? Of works? No, but through the law of faith” (Romans 3:27 MKJV).
Nelson goes on to ridicule what he thinks Paul is teaching, calling it blasphemous because it depicts God as “some kind of twisted despot.” He says, “What kind of ruler tells his subjects to do something under the threat of torture, knowing full well they are incapable of doing it, just so he can keep them humiliated and begging for mercy? Only an evil, psychopathic tyrant does that kind of thing.”
But Paul isn’t remotely saying or suggesting such things. He doesn’t teach that God made the Law impossible to obey. Paul teaches the Law of God is good, but that man is not:
“For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin” (Romans 7:14 MKJV).
Why else do we need a Savior? And the Law was given to lead us to Him:
“Therefore, the Law has become our custodian, leading us to Christ, so that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24 EMTV).
And faith leads to fulfilling the Law: “Therefore do we nullify the Law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the Law” (Romans 3:31 EMTV).
Thus, Nelson’s case against Paul is overthrown.
Also, there is no threat of torture for not keeping the Law. That is Nelson’s perverse doctrine, which doesn’t come by Paul’s revelation of Yeshua HaMashiach. Not keeping the Law brings its own punishment.
Romans 2:6-12 KJV
(6) Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
(7) To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:
(8) But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
(9) Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;
(10) But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that works good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:
(11) For there is no respect of persons with God.
(12) For as many as have sinned without Law shall also perish without Law: and as many as have sinned in the Law shall be judged by the Law;
“O Israel, you have destroyed yourself; but in Me is your help” (Hosea 13:9 MKJV).
Finally, Nelson admits that Paul was confronted by the Lord Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus. So what of the Lord’s words about what He would be doing with Paul?
“But the Lord said to him [Ananias], Go! For this one [Paul] is a chosen vessel to Me, to bear My Name before nations and kings and the sons of Israel. For I will show him what great things he must suffer for My Name’s sake” (Acts 9:15-16 MKJV).
Did God lose control of the one He claimed would serve Him faithfully, or was He able to accomplish what He said He would through Paul?
Nelson goes by whether man is righteous enough to do God’s will, and not whether God is righteous and faithful in fulfilling His Word. Nelson glorifies the flesh while doubting and damning the Spirit of God. Is it any wonder he rejects God’s chosen vessel and doesn’t understand the Scriptures?
It is wickedness. Nelson is in witchcraft.
Victor Hafichuk
May 28, 2017