How Rome Counterfeited God’s Holy Days

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There are millions of  professing Christians in the world today — everyone of them, in greater or lesser degree, practicing the pagan mysteries of ancient Babylon!

How could the world believe that its hundreds of competitive sects and denominations are the one true Church of God? — and believe that its heathen customs and holidays supersede the authority of the Bible?

What Is the “Mystery of Babylon”?

Admittedly the customs of the Protestant world came from the Roman Catholic Church; but how did Rome fall heir to the “Mystery of Babylon?” Here is the answer!

In Revelation 17:5, an angel reveals to the apostle John, in symbol, the professing Christian world of today. Notice what kind of world it is! It is dominated by a “Mother Church” — symbolized by a fallen woman — whose name is “a mystery, ‘BABYLON THE GREAT, the Mother of the Harlots and of the Abominations of the Earth.'”

That is her real name! She is named after the city Babylon! But why is this great church not called the mystery of “Nineveh,” or the mystery of “Sidon,” or “Athens,” or “Thebes”? — all famous cities of the ancient world in which competitive pagan mystery religions were located. Why is it called specifically the mystery of “Babylon”? How did the “Babylonian mysteries- migrate to Rome? And what were the customs or mysteries that specifically distinguished the city of Babylon from the other centers of mystery cults?

First, notice what a “mystery” is. A mystery is secret knowledge revealed only to an inner circle, not to outsiders in general. Paul speaks of the teaching of the true Church as a Mystery. “Now to the one able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept silent through the times of ages, but now is manifested,” he wrote in Rom. 16:25-26. This mystery includes the knowledge God has revealed in the Bible. But the Bible is written in such a way that the world, which is carnally minded, cannot understand it. It is a mystery to the world!

Those who constitute the true Church of God are also called the “mystery of God” in Revelation 10:7.

A Fate Worse Than Death!

What is the most terrible thing that could happen to a human being?

Did you know that there is a sin so great, so devastating in its awfulness, that even the great mercy of God cannot overlook it, and the shed blood of Jesus Christ cannot wash it away? A sin that can never be forgiven.

Jesus warned that it could happen. “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation” (Mark 3:28-29, RAV throughout except as noted).

Who could commit such a dreadful sin, and subject themselves to such an appalling fate — to lose all hope of forgiveness and salvation?

Jesus addressed these stern words to self-righteous religious leaders of first century Jerusalem. They had developed an implacable contempt for Jesus. During his ministry, Jesus occasionally clashed with them, and several times he warned them of the dire consequences of their attitude. Finally, they trumped up charges against him and occasioned his crucifixion by the Romans.

But was this the unpardonable sin?

An unpardonable sin is by no means the special province of bigots. Have you ever noticed this scripture in the epistles of John, whose writings usually epitomize love, tolerance and forgiveness? “If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that” (I John 5:16).

“Lucy” Fallacy Based On Conjecture, Not Science.

worshippingchristian.org

An “Institute For Creation Research” article which recently caught my eye was about a human-looking bone discovered in the Hadar Formation in Ethiopia, supposedly belonging to Australopithecus afarensis.

Australopiths are extinct apes known only from fossils. “Lucy” is the most famous example, and she was long thought to represent an evolutionary transition between ape-kind and mankind. The latest discovery is taken as additional evidence that human ancestors gradually morphed from tree-dwelling apes.

So what does this newly described bone actually prove? Well, nothing less than it looks just like a human fourth metatarsal. Its description, published in the journal Science, clearly showed that the foot bone is within the range of modern humans and does not match any metatarsals from living apes or show any hint of being ape-like.

In fact, the foot could not look like ours because prior finds showed that Lucy’s foot was actually configured like a hand, with a thumb-like big toe projecting sideways. A strange fact to be omitted, for sure, since this means their conclusion is based on mere speculation that the human-looking bone belonged to an ape. In fact, Lucy-like specimens have indicated characteristic flat ape feet with curved toes, not arched feet as the media have claimed.

If you will notice the picture in this article, it shows 20% of the bones we have found of a supposed Lucy. Now, is forensic science that good at creating facts from so little information? After all, it’s not like reconstructing a skeleton at a crime scene. We know what a modern person looks like, so filling in the missing pieces is so much easier. But in Lucy’s case, we don’t have the missing information. All we can really determine from the 20%  data we have is that the the long bones help us in in determining height and stature. The rest of the 80% we are told is conjecture, not real science.

So the question remains: Is one more bone singled out from a scrap heap of “greater than 370” individual bones the best evidence for an upright-walking ape? As the article stated, this bone has not proven that Lucy walked, but instead illustrates how improper science leads to flawed conclusions.

Read the complete article here – www.icr.org

Catholics Have It Wrong On Jesus’ Time In The Grave

Editors Comment: This is a great article about the fallacy of the Catholic Church’s timing of how long Christ was really in the grave, to suit their doctrinal errors. It is from the Trumpet.com, and written by columnist Stephen Flurry. Check it out .

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newcreationperson.wordpress.com

It is commonly assumed that Jesus was crucified on a Friday afternoon and then rose from the dead a day and a half later around sunrise on Sunday morning. But if Jesus died on Friday and vacated His tomb at dawn on Sunday, how does that amount to three days and three nights, the time frame Christ established as proof of His Messiahship?

That’s the intriguing question posed by USA Today last week. Sadly, the article attempted to explain away the sure prophecy of Christ by holding up weak arguments presented by biblical scholars. One “expert” actually reasoned that Jesus didn’t intend for His words in Matthew 12:40 to be a “precise” measure of time!

Even Pope Benedict xvi, the article informs, wrestles with the three-day time frame in his book about Christ’s last days. According to the pope, “There is no direct scriptural testimony pointing to the ‘third day.’”

No scriptural testimony? When the Pharisees asked Christ for a sign as proof of His Messiahship, being in the grave three full days and three full nights was the one and only sign Jesus gave. He meant what He said. In another passage, He even referred to the daylight portion of a day as including 12 hours (John 11:9).

So when Jesus said three days and three nights, He meant 72 hours—no more, no less. That is the plain testimony of Scripture.

When it comes to the Easter sunrise service, however, there is no scriptural testimony to observe that man-made holiday. The word “Easter” appears once in the Bible—in Acts 12:4—and only in the King James Version. Hastings Bible Dictionary and other translations of the Bible correctly render this word, pascha—as it is translated in every other instance it appears in the Bible—as Passover. The Bible says that Jesus Christ was crucified on Passover (Matthew 26:2).

Thousands Of Priests ‘In Illicit Relationships’

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Thousands of Catholic priests are in illicit relationships with both men and women in contravention of the Vatican’s teachings on celibacy and homosexuality, a new book by an investigative journalist
has claimed.

Carmelo Abbate spent months undercover documenting a “hidden world” in which heterosexual priests have children with women who can never be their wives, and gay priests of many different nationalities visit nightclubs in Rome and pay for sex with escorts. His book, Sex and the Vatican: A secret journey in the reign of the chaste, was published in Italian yesterday. … “The purpose of the book is not to shame Catholic clergy, it is to expose the hypocrisy and double standards of the church,” Mr. Abbate, an award-winning investigative reporter, told the Daily Telegraph.

“There are priests with children but the kids cannot talk to their fathers in public for fear of their situation being discovered. There is a culture of omerta (silence) in which the church pretends not to know about any of this. If the authorities do find out, they just cover it up so as to avoid any scandal.” …

He cited research which suggests that as many as a third of Catholic priests in the United States are gay and a quarter are in heterosexual relationships with women. Similar statistics have been reported in Germany and Austria. …

How Much Do You Hate Sin?

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Being in the middle of the Days Of Unleavened Bread (2011), I am really impacted this year by how sin impacts my life, others around me and how God views my attitude towards it. Being sinless Himself, I need to realize that God also hates sin.

But what about me? Do I minimize sin? Do I justify the wrong I do by comparing my sins to someone else’s? What attitude should I have toward sin? As the Days of Unleavened Bread unwind, I need to seriously review these questions.

How Does GOD Look at Sin?

It is obvious that certain sins hurt people more than others. Adultery, for example, clearly inflicts greater and more lasting damage to more people than forgetting an appointment.

On the other hand, we must realize the evil of what many people may consider to be “small” sins. After all, sin is sin — wrong is wrong — evil is evil, no matter what the degree. To ask which of two sins is worse is about like asking which was more sinful — Sodom or Gomorrah?

Regardless of how “minor” or “small” men may think some sins are, God says: “For the wages of sin is death …” (Rom. 6:23). That’s death in the lake of fire! No sins, therefore, should be trifled with, tolerated, or secretly harbored. The ultimate penalty for ALL sin — whether large or small — is the same: Eternal Death!

That some sins exact an immediate penalty is clear. But the damage done by some “small” sins over a period of time can also be devastating. To compare one’s own sins with those of other people, to minimize one’s own sins, and in the process to seek justification for them is exceedingly foolish and spiritually dangerous!

The Apostle James warns: “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he IS GUILTY OF ALL” (James 2:10). The converted Christian should seek out and eliminate every sin — every wrong thought — every evil way. He should not be hanging on to “small” faults just because they do not seem to be as serious as certain obviously great sins.

God’s Holy Days In The New Testament

freebiblestudyguides.org

What do you mean, “New Testament Holy Days”? Weren’t the “Holy Days” Old Testament, Jewish observances, done away with at the cross?

It is logical to begin at the beginning, so we must check to see what days Christ observed. There was no record that He ever observed any of the well-known holidays observed by this pagan world.

What did He observe, then? When Jesus was 12 years old His parents took Him to Jerusalem to observe the Passover:

“Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast” (Luke 2:41-42).

Notice here that His parents traveled to this Feast annually; therefore, Jesus had been to this Feast several times before. He continued this practice with His parents as He was subject to His parents (verse 51).

And not only did they stay for the Passover day alone, but “fulfilled the days” (verse 43) — the seven Days of Unleavened Bread associated with the Passover (see Leviticus 23:4-6).

Why did His parents do this? Because they were devout Jews who “performed all things according to the law of the Lord [God’s law]” (Luke 2:39). Most Jews of that time were really not devout in their religious worship, but the parents God the Father chose to rear His own Son were.

About 18 years later, when Jesus was about 30 years old, we find that He was still continuing His parents’ practice as prescribed in the law of the Lord.

Notice John 2:13: “And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.” Some people wonder why this is called the “Jews’ passover” when it is one of the feasts of God (Lev. 23:2). Two possible reasons exist: 1) Only Jews observed these days (gentiles did not), and 2) the Jews had made some changes regarding Feast observance since it was given to Israel in the time of Moses.

Now Carry It!

thewindowshowsitall.blogspot.com

Do you sometimes feel the burden of the world is on your shoulders? Christ did! Yet how many professing Christians do you know who believe that Jesus “did it all” for us on the cross — that His sacrifice did away with God’s law and freed us from any responsibility to keep God’s commandments?

Millions of Christians believe that this is exactly what happened! But is that what God’s Word really says? Let’s see.

If Jesus did it all for us, then why does He require us, on the authority of the New Testament, to repent of our sins and obey the commandments (Acts 2:38, I John 2:3-4)? If there is no law, how could we be guilty of sins of which we must repent?

No, there is much we must do. Jesus’ sacrifice was only the beginning of God’s plan of salvation. We have a great responsibility to fulfill as a result of that sacrifice.

What we must do is captured for us in the example of Simon of Cyrene.

He carried the cross

Remember that Jesus was required to carry His own cross up the hill of Golgotha, and this after an unbelievably painful and exhausting nightlong scourging by Roman soldiers. The Greek word for “cross” can mean a straight tree without its branches, or a stake.

At one point along the path, which was lined with gaping spectators, Jesus may have stumbled under the heavy weight of His own crucifixion stake.

Perhaps He dropped to one knee and inhaled deeply, refilling His burning lungs, and attempted to reposition the heavy tree or stake so He could rise again and carry it on.

But the strength Jesus had enjoyed in much better times was sapped, His body critically injured and weakened by the vicious beating He had endured. Jesus no longer even looked like a human being (Isa. 52:14)!

A burly Roman officer standing nearby observed the impossibility of Jesus’ continuing with the cross and looked menacingly at the crowd, evaluating who might be able-bodied enough to be drafted to help the exhausted carpenter carry His death instrument.

Out of the hooting crowd the soldiers pulled Simon of Cyrene, probably a large, stocky farmer who had come in from the country to keep the Spring Holy Days. “You — yes, you!” one of the soldiers screamed. “Get over here and carry this stake!”

Simon probably was thinking: Why do they have to bother me? I don’t want anything to do with this business. What if they nail me to the stake instead of Him? Say, this is heavy. Wonder what He did to deserve this?

What Is Leaving Out Leaven About?

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Leaven is a substance that puffs things up. During the Days of Unleavened Bread, God uses it to represent sin, because sin has the same effect (I Cor. 5:1-8). This festival shows that we are to become unleavened spiritually by commanding the physical labor of deleavening our homes.

Leavening agents are substances used to puff up or produce fermentation, causing dough to rise, such as yeast, bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) and baking powder. Sourdough was the most popular leaven in ancient Israel, as it caused baked goods to rise and become light in texture. These leavening agents led to food becoming leavened (Exod. 12:8).

Leavening agents are those ingredients that leaven and cause baked goods, such as bread, cake, certain crackers and cookies, cereals and pies to rise. Even some candies and other foods are leavened, so careful label reading is a must. If you are still in doubt about any leaven, ask someone with more expertise in this area.

God also gives us a positive command that whenever bread is eaten during the spring holy days, it must be unleavened bread. Eating the “bread of affliction” (Deut. 16:3) reminds us that we were in bondage to sin before being delivered from such abject slavery. It is also permissible to eat unleavened pies and cereals, etc., in addition to our regular diet.

There are many homemade unleavened recipes; but there are also products available on the market such as matzos, Rye Krisp, some types of Wheat Thins, Triscuits, etc. Again, a careful check of the label is recommended because different brands or flavors of the products mentioned above may have leaven in them. If you have any doubts about a particular food and cannot determine if it’s safe to eat, it is best to avoid it, for “whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23).

To picture our deliverance from sin, earnest effort should be made to put leavening out of our homes—just as we must exert effort to put sin out of our lives. Despite our best attempts, some leavened products may be discovered in our home or accidentally enter our premises during this festival. This is not surprising, as it types the hidden sins that were not immediately revealed upon our conversion. We should get rid of them immediately, to represent the desire we should have to not become comfortable with our sins. Putting out the leaven (sin) is not a one-time event but something we must keep doing until the process is complete. This explains why there are seven Days of Unleavened Bread—seven signifying the number of completeness.

Inevitably, questions come up about whether or not other items are leavening agents. Egg whites, for example, shouldn’t be used as a leaven substitute to purposely skirt the spirit of the law; yet they may be used in meringue for pies and in other desserts when their use is not as a leavening agent—that is, to puff up any baked product, composed of flour or meal.

Products with yeast extracts are acceptable if they do not contain any actual leavening agent. Brewer’s yeast is totally inactive or dead and not to be considered leaven. Cream of tartar, by itself, is not a leavening agent.

Questions come up about beer, wine and other fermented beverages, but there is nothing in the Bible that restricts the kind of drinks allowed during these Days of Unleavened Bread. Leaven in the Israelites’ dough is always mentioned (Exod. 12:39, for example), but never the invisible yeast or its effect in either beer, wine or other libation. Wine, naturally fermented, was a customary staple at God’s ancient festivals. If God would have banned wine and other fermented beverages, the Bible would certainly have recorded this admonition for us.

Other non-food products contain leavening, such as antacids, some medicines, bath powders, toothpastes, cat and dog foods and even fire extinguishers, but none of these needs to be discarded.

We must remember that God planned the Days of Unleavened Bread to remind us to deleaven ourselves spiritually. This is typed physically, but our prime concern should be the complete putting out of the spiritual leaven of sin, replacing it with spiritual unleavened righteousness, not just for seven days, as explicitly commanded, but every day of our lives.

Why Do We Eat Unleavened Bread?

judahgabriel.blogspot.com

By the time you read this, Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread will be almost upon us in 2011. To God’s true people, this season and all of God’s Holy Days are deeply meaningful.

But how much meaning do they have for our children, those young ones whose teaching God says is our responsibility?

Do we ourselves deeply understand God’s Holy Days? And, most important, do we set the proper example in observing these days? Do we take them seriously? Unless we do, how can we effectively express to our children the significance of God’s master plan?

Ancient Israel’s example

The ancient Israelites, in slavery in Egypt, certainly were forced to take God’s plan seriously when God began to work with them.

Times of national crisis — war, economic depression, enslavement of one nation to another — are probably harder on children than on any other single group within a nation. Without a doubt this was true during ancient Israel’s hard bondage in Egypt.

Imagine the plight of Israel’s children during the months and weeks leading up to the Exodus:

Slavery no doubt broke up families. The people lived in extreme poverty. The Israelite children were not afforded good opportunities for education.

The hard labor, from which even the children were not excepted, must have claimed a heavy toll in terms of the children’s physical and mental health. Nothing — not even human life — could stand in the way of the massive building projects Pharaoh pushed so obsessively.

Then God intervened. Keeping His promise to the patriarch Abraham (Gen. 15:13-14), God began to deliver Israel. Moses arrived on the scene and God, through miraculous and devastating plagues, drove Pharaoh to release God’s nation. We know the story.

But think of the Israelites’ children. While the grown-ups were no doubt bewildered by the course of events, the children must have been most confused — even fearful.

Israel followed God’s instructions and prepared for the very first Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread (Ex. 12:1-25). God struck down the firstborn in every Egyptian home and Moses began to lead Israel out of Egypt. These events would only have added to the children’s wonderment.

But God is not the author of confusion (I Cor. 14:33). He wanted His people — every person, down to the youngest child who could understand — to know about His plan. So He provided a means for the children to learn about the events and ceremonies of these first Holy Days: Parents were to teach their children, then and for every generation thereafter.

Notice Exodus 12:26-27: “And it shall come to pass,” God told Israel, “when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses.”

God placed a heavy responsibility on parents. They were to teach their children about the things of God, including God’s Holy Days, which show the plan of salvation.

One of the most effective ways for them to have done so was to have set the proper example of obedience in their own lives. Personal example goes much farther than words in setting a pattern of right living.

The Bible shows, however, the adult Israelites themselves failed to heed God’s commands, let alone teach the younger generations. Therefore, God allowed every Israelite past the age of 20, except Joshua and Caleb, to die in the wilderness rather than enter the promised land.

And Moses, before Israel crossed the Jordan River into Canaan, had to repeat for the younger people, in Deuteronomy, things their parents had failed to teach them. Sad to say, this younger generation also failed to teach their offspring about the ways of God, and the record of Israel’s unhappy history shows the result.

The Sin Of Indifference

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Indifference, apathy, nonchalance and lack of concern for others are the signs of our calloused, uninvolved age. Could these attitudes have rubbed off on you without your realizing it?

You live in a world gone mad. Riots, muggings, murder, rape, starvation, brutality are commonplace — so much so that unless we are on our guard we can become oblivious and hardened to what is happening around us.

Stop and think. You live in a world where venereal disease strikes children 10 to 14 years old. Where gonorrhea is America’s most common contagious disease, after the common cold and measles. Where young males “prance” up and down the streets in women’s slacks, high heels and long hair. Where high schools are infested with prostitution rings and dope peddlers.

Every base act and foul crime imaginable is committed in our modern Godless society. But it is the rare person today who still has the sensitivity to be moved and shocked into a sense of abhorrence by what is taking place!

Most people today simply don’t care. They lead insulated lives. They are the “silent majority” — the mass of “uninvolved.” Most don’t want to be disturbed by the facts. Most are caught up in a binge of self-love and a driving greed to gorge their desires and glut their appetites. Millions today are filled with indifference toward the welfare of their country, their neighbors and anyone but themselves — having become totally APATHETIC!

It Was Prophesied

The Apostle Paul prophesied that in these last days living itself would be perilous. He foretold that men would be motivated only by an inward, thoughtless love for themselves. They would be incapable of showing the natural affection of one human toward another. Unconcerned for anyone but themselves, they would be arrogant, pushy — even fierce (II Tim. 3:1-4).

These are people so caught up in the swirl of their own family, their own lives, that they can nonchalantly watch children fight a losing battle for their lives and not lift a finger to help.

It is our materialistic, grasping, competitive, “keeping up with the Joneses” way of life that spawns this shoulder-shrugging, indifferent “who cares?” attitude! This is the typical attitude of the society in which we live. You and I live in a world permeated with just such an approach to life!

The Fraud Of I John 5:7

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Question: “Does I John 5:7 belong in the Bible? Some say this verse proves God is a Trinity.”

Answer: This verse is spurious! It is a FRAUD — a deliberate hoax — foisted upon a deceived world centuries AFTER the inspired New Testament was written!

Those who cite this verse to prove the doctrine of the Trinity are either in gross ignorance or are out-and-out deceivers! The Bible nowhere teaches the pagan doctrine of a Trinity! I John 5:7 is properly deleted in modern translations, such as the Moffatt, Goodspeed, and the Revised Standard Version.

So where then did I John 5:7 come from? Why is it found today in the King James Bible? And who put it there?

The editors of the “Critical and Experimental Commentary” were forced to admit this verse is NOT found in ANY of the old manuscripts of the Bible and was not found in the manuscripts of the Latin Vulgate until as late as the eighth century! Notice their confession:

“The only Greek MSS., in any form, which support the words:

“….in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one: and there are three that bear witness in earth,”

are the Montfortianus of Dublin, copied from the Modern Latin Vulgate; the Revianus, copied from the Complutensian Polyglot; a MS. at Naples, with the words added in the margin by a recent hand; Ottobonianus, 298, of the fifteenth century, the Greek of which is a translation of the accompanying Latin. ALL THE OLD VERSIONS OMIT THE WORDS. The oldest MSS. of the Vulgate omit them, the earliest Vulgate MS. which has them being Wizanburgensis, 99, of the eighth century.

Even Adam Clarke confesses in his “Commentary”: “But it is likely this verse is NOT GENUINE. It is wanting in every MS. of this epistle written before the invention of printing, one excepted, the “Codex Montfortii”, in Trinity College, Dublin

Clarke continues, “It is wanting in both the Syriac, all the Arabic, Ethiopic, the Coptic, Sahidic, Armenian, Slavonian, etc., in a word, IN ALL THE ANCIENT VERSIONS but the “Vulgate”; and even of this version many of the most ancient and correct MSS. have it not. It is wanting also in ALL THE ANCIENT GREEK FATHERS; and in most even of the Latin.”

How, then, did it creep into the text of the King James Version? Hear the voice of History:

I John 5:7 “… is not contained in any Greek manuscript which was written earlier than the fifth century. It is not cited by ANY of the Greek ecclesiastical writers; nor by any of the early Latin fathers, even when the subjects upon which they treated would naturally have led them to appeal to its authority. It is therefore evidently spurious; and was first cited (though not as it now reads) by Virgilius Tapsensis, a Latin writer of no credit, in the latter end of the fifth century, but by whom forged, is of no great moment, as its design must be obvious to all.” (The Emphatic Diaglott.)

Trinitarians grasp at I John 5:7 as a last straw to support their doctrine because NO OTHER SCRIPTURE IN ALL THE BIBLE CAN LEND CREDENCE to the pagan doctrine of a tri-une God!

The doctrine of “God in three Persons” is not Biblical! It originated in ancient paganism!

Babylonish and Oriental religions have long believed in triune divinities — father, mother and child. The Egyptians worshiped Isis, Osiris, and Horus; the Babylonians deified the archrebel Nimrod, his wife Semiramis, and her illegitimate son Horus, known also as Gilgamesh. The widespread worship of a “Trinity” traces all the way back to this original trio!

God is NOT a trinity. God is a family (Eph. 3:15), composed of the Father, and Jesus Christ, the first-born among many brethren (Rom. 8:29). The Bible does not teach a “closed” God-head. Rather, true Christians can become Sons of God — very members of the God family — if they are born again by His Spirit at the resurrection.

At the resurrection, Christians begotten by the Holy Spirit, are born into God’s ruling Kingdom. We will become co-inheritors with Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:17)! We will be born of God as He is! We will be glorified just like Jesus Christ — we will be like Him, “for we shall see Him as He is” (I John 3:2) — as very God!

Satan has deluded the world with his diabolical trinitarian concept in order to hide the marvelous truth about man’s destiny!

Source: The Plain Truth, January, 1965

Five Doctrines Which Identify The True Church Of God

WHY were you born? After death, then what? What is man’s destiny?

These are the most important questions of your life, yet they are often lost in the shuffle of most religious debates.

A cloud of superstition has crept over the main denominations of Christianity. This cloud of counterfeit doctrines prevents mankind from seeing the clear scriptures which outline God’s master plan for man.

In place of the five fundamental biblical doctrines which identify God’s true Church, man has concocted five false doctrines, which are commonly assumed to be in the Bible.

Following is a two-pronged presentation of each of the five fundamental doctrines: first an explanation of the true biblical teaching; then a study of the counterfeit.

1. The “Plan for All Seasons”

The plan of God, expressed in the four following doctrines, is pictured by the first doctrine: the weekly Sabbath (Ex. 31:13-17) and the annual holy days (Lev. 23), which picture that plan of God through seven steps and three annual seasons.

The “plan for all seasons” begins with the Passover in early spring. This solemn memorial service pictures the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who died to pay the physical and spiritual penalty for man’s sins. This initial holy day is immediately followed by the Days of Unleavened Bread, picturing sin (as leaven) being removed from the lives of newly baptized Christians.

The third holy day, Pentecost, comes during early summer. Just as the early summer harvest is a small foretaste of the great autumn harvest, Pentecost pictures the relatively “small flock” of called-out Christians who receive God’s Holy Spirit during this 6,000-year age of man’s rule.

There are four more holy days clustered in one month of autumn. The first is the Day of Trumpets, representing the trumpeted end-time warning to the world and Christ’s subsequent return to earth at the “last trump.” The Day of Atonement follows nine days later, picturing the Christian’s resurrection to sonship (being “at one”) with God the Father.

Five days later is the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles representing the millennial fall “harvest” of human beings and the rule of God for 1,000 years.

The last holy day, called the “Last Great Day,” represents the time following the millennium when every human being who has ever lived (not having a chance for salvation in this age) will be resurrected to life and given his first chance to live the way of life God intended — on a beautiful, rebuilt planet earth.

Why Some Tithepayers Do Not Prosper

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God promises to bless those who keep His law of tithing. But what if you tithe faithfully and still face financial disaster? Why are you not becoming more prosperous each year, if the law of tithing really works?

There is another important consideration every Christian needs to remember.

More than tithing required

Don’t misunderstand. Tithing pays big dividends. There is an invisible law in tithing that insures monetary increase when one un-begrudgingly gives God His 10th.

What many people don’t seem to realize is that they are under obligation to obey other laws equally as important to success as the law of tithing. You must obey all God’s laws if you expect to continue receiving the marvelous blessings which God’s gigantic storehouse provides. If you are not receiving God’s blessings, then you are not doing all God requires.

The apostle Paul revealed why some do not prosper. He said: “We commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies” (II Thess. 3:10-11). Paul warned Timothy, “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel” (I Tim. 5:8).

Your Bible plainly states that a person who will not work and provide for his own home is worse than an infidel. Even though such a person is satisfied to barely eke out an existence, tithing alone will not make him prosperous.

True Christians should be willing to work harder than anyone else on the job. They must be willing to make money for their employer. Any person who is lazy cannot help but reap shame, poverty and defeat after defeat.

What Is A Christian’s Business?

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When Christ was 12 years old He asked His parents after they had been searching for Him for three days, ” How is it that ye sought me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49).

What was that business and why did no one else grasp the deep meaning of this sentence? Even today, the world is unaware of the living, resurrected Christ’s preoccupation and concern for His Father’s business.

Christ came to do His Father’s work, and true Christians must know what this means and how they can be involved in their Father’s business – their real livelihood. Here is the biblical meaning of what Christ meant:

“My meat (food or substance) is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work.” (John 4:34)

God’s work is of primary importance to Him. True Christians today are to “seek first the kingdom of God” (Matt. 6:33). They are called not just for salvation, but to support the work of God, which Christ died for.

This is no small incidental or half-hearted matter to God, as He states in John 5:17: “My Father works hitherto, and I work.” If we are to follow Christ, we have to work also because God works through human instruments. That means supporting the true body of Christ in prayers, study, meditation and financial means.

Those who argue this concept fail to understand  God’s government because their hearts are not in His work. They resort to selfish arguments to back up inconsequential and spiritually lacking efforts. They look only to their own interests, exhibiting few fruits in their life to enable spiritual growth. God says:

“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also (Matt. 6:21).

If Christ lives in the true Christian (Phil. 2:5), then whatever Christ is excited about, the Christian will also want to be doing. This requires the power of the Holy Spirit, without which we can do nothing (John 5:30).

Are You Worthy To Take The Passover?

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In just two weeks (evening of April 17th, 2011) will come the Passover.

What is the real meaning of the Passover? For the true Christian, it is to be taken every year. But if not careful, even we can take it for granted, without thinking of its deep meaning.

1 Corinthians 11:27 says, “wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread,” (at the time of the Passover), “and drink of the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.”

Now unworthily doesn’t mean that you are worthy to take it. It’s referring to the manner in which you do it, and the condition in which you are when you do it, as to whether you do it worthily or not.

Verse 28, “Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of this bread and drink of this cup.”

Every one of us have sinned. The trouble is most people don’t stop to really confess and admit that. We seem to take it for granted that we’re just pretty good. We don’t realise how unworthy we really are ourselves.

The blood and the body of Christ

Jesus’ body was broken for us, for our healing. So we read in verses 29 and 30, “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily,” that is the manner in which you do it, “eateth and drinketh damnation to himself not discerning the Lord’s body.” Which was broken for us and for our healing. When we’re physically sick. “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” Many have had some kind of a sickness or disease and have died, and they sleep, which is Bible language for having died. It represents death as being in a type of sleep.

But Jesus’ blood was shed because of our spiritual sins the transgressions of His Spiritual Law. All sickness and disease is the result of sin, and most don’t realise that.

It doesn’t always mean that you have deliberately had a wrong attitude or wrong intention, and have deliberately sinned and caused it by your own wrong thoughts, motivations, and actions. It could be an accident. It could be a germ in some water you drank, or a contagious disease that disrupted the natural rhythm of the laws of your body.

But the thing is that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

The Dilemma of Death!

 

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Few among us have not been shaken to the very roots — wounded to the very depths of our being by the death of a loved one. Even the great of this world have experienced this traumatic trial. General Douglas MacArthur said of the death of his father: “My whole world changed that night. Never have I been able to heal the wound in my heart” (Reminiscences, page 44). His brother died suddenly in 1923. He later recorded, “I loved my brother dearly and his premature death left a gap in my life which has never been filled” (Reminiscences, page 23). Death claimed his mother in 1935. The General wrote, “Within two months after our arrival in Manila my mother died, and our devoted comradeship of so many years came to an end” (Reminiscences, page 113).

 

Sir Winston Churchill wrote, “My father died on January 24 [1895] in the early morning…. All my dreams of comradeship with him, of entering Parliament at his side were ended. There remained for me only to pursue his aims and vindicate his memory” (My Early Life, page 62).

David’s Example

And remember King David’s experience. He besought God for his stricken child’s life with seven days of fasting and prayer. When the child died, David discontinued his fast — resuming a normal life. His servants were amazed and asked why. David answered, “… While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me” (II Sam. 12:22-23).

King David had the right approach and attitude about his son’s death. He exemplified the New Testament scripture which tells us to “… sorrow not, even as others which have no hope” (I Thes. 4:13). Also, the very fact that General Douglas MacArthur and Sir Winston Churchill so amply fulfilled their respective roles in life proves they did not continually reflect back on the death of close relatives in a morbid manner. Of course, to sorrow for a little time is natural.

And yet — even when our perspective about death is properly in focus — there is still a gap, a certain void in our lives when a close member of the immediate family or a good friend is removed from us by the sobering occurrence of death. There are few better experiences in this physical life than having your family and friends about you — rejoicing with them — sharing the vicissitudes of life. And yet every family relationship has been broken by death.

When one member dies, he cannot be replaced. He is a unique being. There will never be another Jim or Joe or Helen or Mary. True, one may resume a normal life, get absorbed in activities, cultivate other close friendships, even remarry. But, there are those inevitable moments when we reflect back on previous relationships with deceased loved ones — their personalities — how they were — what good times we had together.

Is there any way this gap can be closed, the void created by death filled, and the sadness permanently healed? Let’s begin to understand.

Jacob’s Example

Notice the Patriarch Jacob’s experience. His other sons sold his favorite son Joseph into slavery. They deceived Jacob into thinking Joseph was dead. His reaction? “And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days” (Gen. 37:34).

The void continued in Jacob’s life for many years (Gen. 37:35; 42:36-38). Later Jacob learned that Joseph was yet alive (Gen. 45:26). He went down to Egypt to see him. Notice this remarkable reunion. “And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel [Jacob] his father, to Goshen, and presented himself unto him; and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive” (Gen. 46:29-30).

Jacob was so happy to see his son Joseph again that he felt his mission completed in life. (Actually, it was not. He had 17 more years to live and some crucial prophecies to pronounce that are still being fulfilled today — many centuries later.) He later told Joseph, “I had not thought to see thy face [again]: and, lo, God hath shewed me also thy seed [your children]” (Gen. 48:11).

God’s Sure Promises

Does God have this same joyous reunion of families in mind for his sons and daughters who overcome and are born into His Kingdom? The answer is an unequivocal “YES!” It is as sure as the rising of tomorrow’s sun.

Remember the words of David: “…I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.” What did David mean by “I shall go to him”? David was talking about a reunion with his son in a resurrection. Let Christ clarify. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live” (John 5:25). Continue: “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all [not part] that are in the graves shall hear his [Jesus’] voice, and shall come forth …” (verses 28 and 29). Jesus said, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25).

This is a sure prophecy. The dead shall live. The gap will be closed. The void filled. The wounds healed. Families permanently reunited in the resurrection. Listen! “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Rev. 21:4).

Source: Tomorrow’s World, January 1972