Posted in Balance • Blessing • Comfort • Daily Living • Gospel • Jesus • Promise The

Thorns and Thistles

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As Adam and Eve were relocating anywhere but the Garden of Eden, in Genesis chapter 3 God delivers the curse He had warned Adam would result from breaking the dietary command about the wrong fruit.

Genesis 3:17–19 ESV. And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

A curse at its root is a withdrawal of God’s help or presence. He is the source of life and the One who causes the distribution and growth of seeds. Instead of helping that process, He withdraws, resulting in increased labor to get fed. Thorns and thistles will infest crops along with reduced crop yields (because of the interference of thorns and thistles). A verse that helps us understand this is in Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 5:11 ESV. Therefore, as I live, declares the Lord God, surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I will withdraw. My eye will not spare, and I will have no pity.

In other Scripture, we are told that Israel was experiencing the curse parts of the Sinai covenant because they did not hold up their end of the bargain and broke it. If we don’t want any part of God then He simply says “okay” and departs (although there is wrath in there also). The downside to this is He is the source of life, so when we depart from Him, even a little bit, we choose death. Believers honor His covenant way of living and follow it from the heart as a small way to return the boundless love He has for us through the death and resurrection of His only begotten Son Yeshua our Messiah. Each commandment we make a part of daily living brings Him more fully into our lives one step at a time as we walk in the light.

A young man I knew once asked me if the “thorns and thistles” part of the curse was only for farmers. I assured him that thorns and thistles are not just plants, but they also represent all of the trials and difficulties we experience in life (“in pain shall you eat of it”). Humans in general will work very hard by the sweat of our brows, according to this curse or withdrawal, but in addition will experience pain and suffering. Other words for trouble in our lives are nettles (as in Hosea 9:6 “nettles shall possess their precious things of silver, thorns shall be in their tents), dry branches, nets, pits, snares, sepulchers, tombs, poisonous weeds, wormwood and so on.

Believers live in a wrecked world with large populations that reject the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, so we are subject to all kinds of bad experiences due to that rejection. Sometimes the thorns and thistles trouble us even when it’s not through our direct fault. The deceiver is still trying to unseat our Father from His throne and his plots and plans have the side effects of sin and death in large measure. Jet planes and cars exhaust pollutants, chemicals foul the ground, food is lacking nutrition, people eat unclean food on a regular basis, and so on. We might have health issues that come from lifestyles that are terrible, such as abuse of alcohol and drugs. My birth mother (I call her the egg donor) smoked cigarettes during her pregnancy with me, and I have lung issues and asthma that probably come from that practice.

We can pray that God keeps us safe and heals us when we are afflicted, but we still suffer thorns and thistles which might be coming from others. No matter how carefully we drive or how observant we are in avoiding accidents, someone can still crash into us. We avoid illegal drugs but we can be affected by those who use them. The medical establishment constantly bombards us with fallacious information and coerces us by fear into taking treatments or vaccines that do way more harm than good. Government burdens us with unnecessary regulations and heavy taxation while sending our confiscated hard-earned money to foreign countries who hate us. Yes, thorns and thistles are sadly much more than merely unwanted plants.

We know God is still around and active in our lives to a certain extent. Even unbelievers experience rain and sunshine on a regular basis, as well as pain and suffering, even if they aren’t farmers. Our Messiah Yeshua isn’t on the throne of David in Jerusalem so His absence is a big reason for the lack of God’s full blessings on the earth. If He were rightfully enthroned, we would see many blessings returned to us. In the meantime, we work and sweat to get our bread, and the pain and suffering are right there as we do.

Thankfully, the thorns and thistles will not continue to afflict us. When our Messiah Yeshua returns and is seated on His rightful throne on earth, God will again visit us fully and paradise will be had once again. Lambs will frolic with lions, cobras will not bite, He will “answer” the ground and it will grow food in abundance, and we will see how it could have been if we had not turned our backs on Him from the beginning.

Isaiah 11:6–9 ESV. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

The return of our Messiah as Lord and King on the earth will be the end of thorns and thistles (and the other weeds) as God reverses His withdrawal. Jesus is God, so of course His presence “in the flesh” so to speak will mean blessings not seen since the Garden of Eden. Israel will be regathered and their blessings will be our blessings also.

Isaiah 12:2–6 ESV. “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day: “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. “Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”

Shalom

Posted in Adultery • Balance • Church • Comfort • Fruit • Gospel • Law • Love • Messianic Movement • New Covenant • New Testament • Old Testament • Translational Bias

Body Search

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It’s not a title of a movie mystery. I’m not going to write about police officer’s arrest techniques. No gloved hands are going to be used in this search. The Body for which I’m searching in modern times is the one presented in the Bible. Luke helps me out with the search for the Body by describing how it acts.

Acts 2:42–47 ESV. And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

According to this description, the Body of Christ devotes itself to the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, taking meals together and praying with one another. We can get an idea of the composition of the apostle’s teaching by reading the letters they wrote. For instance, Paul (though not one of the twelve) tells believers not to go beyond what is written.

1 Corinthians 4:6 ESV. I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.

Their letters weren’t written until the late ’60’s A.D. or so, and they weren’t collected and called the New Testament by the Church until about 200 A.D. So Paul is commanding the teaching of the misnamed Old Testament. The apostle’s teaching from the Law, Prophets and Writings (called the Tanakh or Torah) was energizing the actions of the Body at that time. Peter adds that false prophets and teachers from among you will secretly bring in destructive heresies, and through their sensuality, the way of righteousness is blasphemed (2 Peter 2:2).  He continues:

2 Peter 2:20–21 ESV. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.

The “way of righteousness” from which they will turn back, he says, is the “holy commandment” delivered to them. The holy commandment is also known as the Tanakh, which includes the new covenant or the law written on a soft heart of flesh (Hebrews 8:8-12 quoting Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Ezekiel 11:19 and 36:26). Peter’s part of the Body of Christ exhibited this new covenant.

Obviously, “all who believed” who were in the Body at the time of Peter were behaving very differently than those in churches we see today. Given the difference in behavior between the believers back then and churches now, we might be led to think the Body doesn’t exist in the present. But it’s still around, it’s just scattered here and there, and mostly represented by individuals. Believers who are devoted to the apostle’s teaching (the Torah, meaning “instruction”) have been silenced or driven out of most organizations due to the twisted, ear-tickling teachings of what Jesus (and Paul) called ravenous wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Matthew 7:15 ESV. “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

Acts 20:29–30 ESV. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.

2 Timothy 4:3 ESV. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,

Those of the Body who really want to follow all of the apostle’s teachings on God’s precious, loving Words cannot associate with these ravenous wolves in sheep’s clothing. If the Body member tries to stay in a congregation or organization that is not following the new covenant, but insists on following it themselves, they are labeled divisive people and asked to leave.

By the time I was 40, I had been a part of about 15 different churches in 10 denominations (and been asked to leave on occasion), so I’ve had quite a bit of experience. I was a youth leader twice, an elder in a Bible church once, and taught adult Sunday school. For about the last 25 years we have not gone at all, anywhere, mostly because we aren’t allowed. It would be nice if we could find a place, but we “gather together” with our family and just follow the Word. We’ve found closeness with each other, our Father and Messiah, which is lacking in most congregations anyway. I also find that I’m much more able to get along with those of different beliefs or even non-belief than I did when I was simply a churchgoer, even if they can’t get along with me. We are part of the Body without attending a church filled with ravenous wolves.

Many, many churches are biased towards doing what is right in their own eyes. One Messianic group of which we were part tried hard to institute and keep non-biblical Jewish traditions such as using a pointer to read sections of the Bible in Hebrew and parading around a Torah scroll in their services. But one of the leaders went to his wife (who was not genetically Jewish) on Yom Kippur and started a divorce in order to marry a genetically Jewish woman. The rest of the leadership did not ask him to leave the congregation, as they should have according to Scripture. Oddly, the new marriage didn’t last either and neither did the congregation.

Isaiah 59:14 ESV. Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter.

Another group we were with for a while decided that the Word (the Law) was only for Jews. Gentiles could follow if they wanted but were then treated as second-class members. Their “first fruits” were not from the Bible. A third group teaches “one law” for everyone, but at the same time says that the “Hebrew perspective” (read, “bias”) is the primary way to translate and apply the Word. Instead of a resource for Torah, they prioritize Jewishness and expel people like us.

Self-titled Christian congregations all have a range of negative attitudes against God’s Word (especially the Law) and Body members are encouraged to find other congregations if they don’t toe the line, which was the case with Calvary Chapels. A similar congregation allowed a witch in and found out later she was having intimate relations with the married pastor. Still another so-called Messianic group allowed a married pedophile adulterer to stay in the congregation which caused many to leave.

1 Corinthians 5:2 NASB95. You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.

In another instance my family was disinvited by the pastor of a community church (after one of his people invited us) because he said we were “all about rules and regulations” (the irony was lost on him). He only teaches the ear-tickling parts of the Word and did not regard the Bible as absolute truth. Then there was the Vineyard pastor (formerly a part of Youth With A Mission) who said in a sermon that he wanted to “throw theology out of the church.” Since the word “theology” means “God’s Word,” I guess he was successful because no one in that church (or many others) teaches the whole of the Word the way God commands.

1 Corinthians 5:6–8 ESV. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Congregations “doing what is right in their own eyes” as the Bible negatively puts it, do not follow all of the Word and therefore do not love God and do not act like the Body in Acts 2:42-47. Instead, they love comfort and ear tickling. It is a loving act to “remove the evil from your midst” for the sake of repentance, and to welcome the formerly evil person back in the event they change their ways. Allowing a witch, homosexual, or adulterer to stay and continue their sinful, destructive behavior is not a loving act (Romans 1:18-32).

Romans 1:32 ESV. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Apparently, we would have to approve of those destructive lifestyles to be accepted. Our family doesn’t believe or conform to these lifestyles, so we just aren’t perfect enough (in their systems) to attend any modern congregation. It’s a sad state of affairs when Body members who insist on following all of God’s loving instructions are the ones who are cast out of these congregations, while unrepentant sinners are allowed to stay. Right is wrong and wrong is right, and so people of the Body of Christ find themselves homeless. But we won’t be homeless forever. God promises those who are faithful to His Word that we will receive the gift of eternal life and have a home in His Kingdom forever.

Mark 10:29–30 ESV. Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.”

Those of you who are part of the Body, having discovered that all of the Word is for all believers and are trying your best to hang on to it and follow with all your heart, soul and strength, be encouraged. This world will not last, and those who disdain to repent and obey the whole of His loving gospel are on the way to a different place other than His Kingdom.

2 Thessalonians 1:5–8 ESV. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

Shalom

Posted in Daily Living • Gospel • Healing • Hypocrisy • Relevance • Righteousness

Salvation

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A biblical definition of salvation starts with the simple idea of rescue from God’s judgment. He will judge the world and every person in it for sin, but He also made a way out by providing the sacrifice of His only begotten son. And according to many church teachings, all you have to do is believe, say it once, and you’re saved. These teachings are derived from sections of the Word such as what Paul writes in Romans (using Deuteronomy 30:14).

Romans 10:8–13 ESV. But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

I say “derived” because most of the teachings just use Scripture as a touchstone and then soar off into the atmosphere in a gaseous cloud. What would ground the teachings better is if they used more of the Bible instead of the gas of dreamy opinions.

There’s biblically much more to belief than just saying “I believe” or raising the hand and going forward. A person who believes in the heart is not just thinking it sounds good; his belief transforms his entire life with an acceptance of all that God imparts to us. It reorients goals of living and connects the soul to our eternal God with all of His glory, especially as to how truly magnificent and powerful is the sacrifice of our Messiah. In return, it seems a small thing to bring the light of all of God’s instructions for us into every corner of our formerly dark lives.

Matthew 7:21–23 ESV. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Those who wear the wool coverings of a sheep yet do not follow God’s Law (actually His instructions), what Jesus calls “workers of lawlessness,” will have to depart from Him. If they do such “mighty works” as casting out demons or prophesying, they will be told “I never knew you.” This applies to all those so-called “evangelists” that put on shows of healing and raising from the dead (whether actual or not) yet teach that all you need to do is raise your hand and go forward. Sorry, but that is not salvation.

Truly saved people give over their lives and everything they do and own to God, because it is the least we can do (and He owns it all anyway). We sell everything we have, inside and out, to gain the Kingdom of Heaven.

Matthew 13:44–46 ESV. “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

In salvation, we discover a kingdom that is worth more than anything this world can offer. It is so valuable that whatever we can sell is worth it. Our lives are reoriented towards bringing as much of the kingdom as we can buy. We gain fellowship with our God and our Messiah Jesus the Christ. Together they are the source of life, light, love and blessings that cannot be measured.  Our purchase of the kingdom includes an initial return in the form of God’s Word lived out wholly and completely day to day. This is much more than raising a hand and going forward. That might be the start, but it is certainly not the end.

Hebrews 6:1–3 ESV. Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits.

A real salvation moves from the elementary doctrines listed here to maturity. The mature person constantly practices, learns and grows in the faith. We “work out our salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). As James says, faiths without works is dead, and even the demons believe, but their works are not of God. In other words, they do not obey God though they “believe.”

James 2:18–19 ESV. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!

Obedience to all of God’s Word is the difference between someone who merely believes, and one who has been saved. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Knowledge of God comes from His Word. All of His Words. Any word that He chooses to speak, including His life-giving Laws.

Romans 10:16–17 ESV. But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Isaiah 1:16–17 ESV. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause. Shalom

Posted in Authority • Balance • Church • Continuity & Discontinuity • Daily Living • Faith • Gospel • Humility • Hypocrisy • Law • Love • New Covenant • Repentance • Righteousness • Temple • Works

Reimagining a Church Insurgence

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Frank Viola has written quite a few books with titles like pagan Christianity, Reimagining Church, There Must Be More, Discipleship in Crisis, Rethinking the Will of God and Insurgence. He’s got a couple web sites and a blog and has worked with George Barna who founded Barna Research which is kind of like a Christian version of the Gallup Research organization. If I read his information correctly, he’s also a disciple of Watchman Nee, which is important and I’ll talk about it more in a minute or two. I read pagan Christianity, and I’ve checked out summaries of some of the other books Mr. Viola has written.

I was studying up on his works when I ran across an offer he makes on his website to do print interviews for your book, film, album, resource, other product or service. According to the site all you have to do is send them the information and if they approve you pay $200.00 for it. A nice deal. So I thought, “Hey, our book Whole Bible Christianity seems like a great fit for Reimagining Church. Maybe he’d like to help us promote it.” I figured he must be serious about the problems in the church and finding solutions, and I’d like to help by showing Frank some of the things I think the Lord has shown to me. Since I’m an “Insurgent” I got excited thinking what a great match up this would be.

I was wrong.

I requested an interview, and gave links for my book and website, and said I had read pagan Christianity and agreed with Frank’s assessment of the church but thought I had something to add to the solution. After I sent in the request, I got a reply from someone named Anaya, so maybe Frank didn’t even see it. But since his people represent him, I think I’m safe in characterizing her (his?) reply as indicative of Frank’s attitudes. So in her first reply, she said that pagan Christianity wasn’t supposed to have solutions, but Frank’s later books did and had I read them? I emailed back and said I didn’t have to read them, I had heard what he was talking about decades ago from other people. After about a month I emailed and asked if she had anymore questions. She emailed back and said she hadn’t seen an Interview Request from my email address. So I re-sent copies of our email exchange. To my surprise, she said they weren’t “accepting any interview spots right now because all spots are taken until mid-2019.”

Huh?

If this is true, why doesn’t it say so on the website? Why didn’t she tell me in the first email all the spots were taken? I think I know why, and it doesn’t have anything to do with how many spots are taken. Without question she looked at my book and website and decided they didn’t want anything to do with it. And why do you suppose this is a problem? Because I write in very passionate terms of God’s Law, with so much support from the Word that it is undeniable that it should be a central part of all believer’s lives. This of course in contrast to standard church teaching ignoring the New Covenant and promoting a mystical buddy from out of town who allows any behavior one chooses.

Can Frank do what he wants? Of course. Does he have to lie? You wouldn’t think so. He says he wants to “break the echo-chamber phenomenon that’s in the bloodstream of the blogosphere today” yet it seems plain from their dodgy response to my Interview Request that perhaps echos are all they want to hear.

Part of Frank’s problem is that he sets up a false dichotomy between a “right” and “left” in the church. I’ll let him explain his “Three Gospels.” From a Bible Gateway interview on his site.

There is the gospel of legalism, which isn’t just working for one’s salvation. The gospel of legalism says that if you want God’s favor, you have to perform to receive it. This causes many Christians to live with a headache of guilt and a constant feeling that they are never measuring up.

In reaction to that is the “gospel” of libertinism which says that because we’re under grace, our behavior doesn’t really matter much to God. So we can live the way we want, and God is okay with it because He understands that we are mere mortals.

The third gospel is the gospel of the kingdom, which brings liberty on the one hand and absolute allegiance to Christ’s lordship on the other.

You see what he does? On the one hand the “right” or “evangelical” or “conservative” view lumps together legalism with performing for God’s favor. On the “left” hand we have “libertinism” meaning behavior doesn’t matter. His “third gospel” proposes a liberty with allegiance to Christ’s lordship which includes behavior that matters but without “performing.” How in the world does one manage this, and where in the Word does this come from? The answer is, it doesn’t come from the Word at all.

It’s this kind of mystical nonsense that comes from people like Watchman Nee and others. Watchman Nee is very mystical and spiritualizes the Bible text nearly out of existence sometimes. He has influenced a lot of people, including many in Calvary Chapel and evidently Mr. Viola too. This is why I said I didn’t need to read any more of Frank Viola’s books. It’s all been said before by many people such as Watchman Nee and Chuck Smith. Many organizations have steered away from the Bible as they tried to steer away from what is wrong in the Church. Mr. Viola is repeating the same mistakes with updated language and a nice book cover. He’s just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic instead of invoking real change.

The New Covenant is the Law written on a heart of flesh. What is new is the heart that will do what God says. Jesus did what God said in all ways, including the “Word of the Lord by Moses” also called the Law. The apostles followed the “living oracles” as Stephen called them. The first three thousand (and the next 5,000) converts to following the Christ were all Law-following Jews. Acts 2:46 says they were “attending the temple together. Paul says what counts is doing what God says.

For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God. (1 Corinthians 7:19, ESV)

The “right wing” and “left wing” of Judaism was not doing what God said. They did part, but they did not do what He said with a whole heart of flesh in love and the Spirit.

Another thing Frank has wrong is his definition of the gospel. The word means “good news” but what exactly is the “good news?” What is the “gospel of the kingdom” biblically? If we look in the Bible instead of making up our own definitions, we find that the “good news” is “God with us.” Hebrews 4:2 says that at Mt. Sinai the gospel was preached to them just as to us.

For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. (Hebrews 4:2, ESV)

How could this be if the gospel is according to Frank’s definition? The answer is that doing what God says will mean that “God is with us.” If Jesus is really Lord and King, we will do what He says. Since Jesus gave the Law in the first place then believers in the Lord and King Jesus the Messiah will follow His Laws too. It’s not that hard. What is hard is humbling ourselves and doing what God says all the time no matter what.

Mr. Viola is another in a long line of fancy charlatans with smooth dialogue and a pitch that would charm angels, relentlessly marketing his misleading merchandise. But he’s still on the wrong track. Unless of course he just wants to sell books. As I read his blog post titled Scratch a Christian and You’ll Find Out What’s Underneath at http://frankviola.org/2013/11/20/scratchachristian/ I couldn’t help but chuckle. Did I scratch him and find out what’s underneath?

If the cross is front and center, then His body and blood will be our food.

Shalom

Bruce

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Audiobook for Whole Bible Christianity Available

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It took a while, but an Audiobook version of our book Whole Bible Christianity is now available. It’s about 15 and a half hours, narrated by Bruce. You can get it free if you sign up for a trial membership at Audible.com. You get a free audiobook when you first sign up for the service. After the first month it costs $15.00 per month but you get one free book per month too.

If you click this link to view the print version, then click on the Free with your Audible Trial button and stay with Audible for two months, not only do you get two free audiobooks (for $15.00 the second month) but we get a $50.00 bonus! You can exchange any audiobook you decide is not for you, and your credit for one free book rolls over to the next month if you don’t use it. Even if you cancel membership after a while you can keep all your audiobooks.

What a great deal! Whole Bible Christianity, Blessings Pressed Down and Overflowing audiobook for free, a bonus to us, and you get more free audiobooks.

There’s also the print version of the book, and Kindle version for a pretty low cost. The Kindle and audiobook versions do not have the Scripture Index with almost 1,500 entries from every book in the Bible, and the audiobook doesn’t have the footnotes, but still you can listen on the way to work and back or read on a Kindle at your leisure. Get all three and get it all.

Shalom

Bruce

Posted in Book publishing • Church • Clean & Unclean • Continuity & Discontinuity • Daily Living • Faith • Fear • Feast and Festivals • Feast of Tabernacles • Feast of Trumpets • God • Gospel • Grace • Holy Spirit • Humility • Hypocrisy • Identity • Israel • Law • Love • Marriage • Messianic Movement • New Covenant • New Testament • Old Testament • Paul Teachings • Whole Bible Christianity book

New Audiobook!

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We’ve now produced an audiobook for Whole Bible Christianity. It is available on Audible, Amazon and iTunes. I narrated it myself and it sounds very good. I did the narration because I don’t think anyone else could’ve really given the project the right tone except the guy who wrote it. It’s about 16 hours long but I don’t know what the pricing will be. Just check with Amazon under Whole Bible Christianity when you want a complete reference for Whole Bible Christianity to listen to in your car or while you are trying to go to sleep!

Shalom

Bruce

Posted in Daily Living • Fruit • Gospel • Grace • Identity • Love • Music • Paganism • Political • Repentance • Tongues

Rebuilding the Tower

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The rock band Queen had a song I liked called “One Vision.” It’s got a nice sentiment involving one voice, one heart, one vision, one race and so on. They express the desire of a lot of people that either we are presently “one” and just need to realize it for paradise on earth to be established, or that we need to become “one” so people can make a paradise. “If we could just realize that we are all one then all the problems would be solved” to summarize. It’s a nice thought, and I long for it too. It’s going to happen hopefully soon.

Trouble is it’s not going to happen the way most people envision.

This sentiment is not a new one. About 4,500 years ago the people of the earth had one language and a large group settled in the land of Shinar. This group decided to build a city and a tower with its top in the heavens to make a name. They wanted to stay “one” and avoid being “dispersed over the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11). Their desire was to take the oneness of all the people of the time and presumably make a paradise on earth. Sound familiar?

In Genesis 11 we read that “The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built.” He was impressed, from our perspective. “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing they propose to do will now be impossible for them.” This might be puzzling to some. Why would God have a problem with unity?

The implication was (and is) they wanted to be one without God. He knows this is impossible, because our natures, without Him, tend towards destruction. He is the source of light, life and love and anyone that wants to be apart from that cannot establish it. He is love; anything less is hate. The very idea of existence without the Source is repugnant to Him. He knows it means death. All that nice sentiment and wishful thinking from musicians, movie stars and politicians will not work without God. God knows it and gives us the choice – if you really want it come to Him.

God said, “Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand on another’s speech.” So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city (Genesis 11:7-8).

The tower the ancients built we now call the Tower of Babel. All talk of oneness without the presence of God is just so much babble. It’s not just words either. It’s also the way we think. For all the talk of unity and oneness we remain scattered because our thoughts drive us away from each other. Without God to gather us together on His principles and character we will never be able to have one flesh, one bone or one true religion. Oneness will continue to elude us as long as we exclude the author of all things pure and clear. There’s no way we will experience love and oneness and paradise without the person who connects us all together in goodness and holiness.

Jesus the Christ was killed as the ultimate expression both of God’s love and human hate. We had the chance at paradise, brotherhood and all those nice things in the songs. We blew it at the Tower, and we blew it at the cross. We’re going to blow it again if we don’t accept Him, His ways, and His Spirit. He’s coming again to establish paradise. Paradise is in, around and through Him and His love. Reject the Christ and you reject all hope of oneness. There is no other way to build it. Believe God and follow what He says. Dedicate ourselves to build His kingdom or keep trying in vain to rebuild our own tower. We’ve got one more chance. The time is now.

Shalom

Bruce

Posted in Atonement • Bible • Bible Verse • Continuity & Discontinuity • Daily Living • Faith • Gospel • Holy Spirit • Hypocrisy • Law • Love • Paul Teachings • Righteousness • Whole Bible Christianity

A Whole Bible Look At: Romans 5 through 8

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Did you know there are seven different laws listed in Romans? Did you know the English word law is used 78 times from chapter 2 to chapter 8? Did you also know that love is mentioned 15 times, not counting “beloved?” The most important are the 13 in 5:5, 8; 8:28, 35, 37, 39; 12:9, 10; 13:8, 9, 10; 14:15; and 15:30. Did you know Paul’s main subject is living the Law with love and the Spirit rather than in a self-seeking attempt to earn our own salvation righteousness?

That information with much else is covered in our Romans video series. Got the second video up now. It took a while to start posting these mostly because I was learning how to do multi-camera editing. Plus I have to do about 40 slides, place them in the video, edit the sound, add titles and make sure everything is ready to go.


This series is mostly to help the whole Bible believer explain Paul’s writings in context with the rest of Scripture (including the Law). Many (many, many) people calling themselves believers use this book along with Galatians and selected other sections of Paul’s writings to remove the Law from a believer’s life. Not only does this not do justice to Paul’s writings, but removing the Law is like removing the most nutritious parts of food, then wondering why we still seem to be starving to death.

And the church IS starving. We started starving when we began sitting in judgment on His living oracles, approving behavior that is specifically listed for us as harmful. Paul specifically says that the law is good, righteous, holy and spiritual. He “delights in the Law of God” but “I see in my members another law waging war.” This law is the law of sin, not the Law of God. The law of sin is the one where we try to earn salvation righteousness from God by following some rules (without the heart or the Spirit). View the video to see how this is explained by Paul.

Shalom
Bruce

Posted in Bible • Bible Verse • Continuity & Discontinuity • Faith • Gospel • Grace • Hypocrisy • Law • New Covenant • Paul Teachings • Promise The • Whole Bible Christianity

New Series On Romans

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One of the things that has turned us off of the Messianic movement is the inability of many to explain Paul’s writings in context with the Law. Few can do it, if at all. So much of the Bible in general has been so covered over with traditions of men and deliberate misinterpretation, that even if a believer manages to work his way through to the understanding of the Law as a valid lifestyle and discipleship method Paul’s writings still seem to contradict (although we know instinctively that they don’t).

Usually the Messianic person will simply revert to throwing out Paul’s writings. A big tool for doing this is to claim that there must’ve been a (lost) Hebrew New Testament that was translated into Greek and in so doing much of the meaning was corrupted by the time we translate to English. So the easy answer for this crowd is to declare the Greek null and void.

Somewhere along the way this nutcase crowd decides to throw out the virgin birth of Jesus along with the claims that Jesus is God. Next this crowd just moves to throw out the whole New Testament. What the heck. It’s all mistranslated anyway, right? Anything they can’t understand or explain must be the fault of the text! Much of the throwing starts with Paul’s writings because they cannot explain properly what he is talking about.

So we decided to do some videos with our own explanations. It’s not that hard, really. All you have to do is read the text. The plain meaning is right there in front of us. It’s not the text that’s the problem. It is either an agenda or a fault in our own understanding. The message is repeated enough throughout the Word (including Paul’s writings) that it is extremely easy to figure out the meaning. If we are going to throw anything out it should be the traditions of men that clutter up the text in the first place.

First in the series is Romans chapters 1 through 4, just put up on our Youtube channel. It’s about an hour. Three future videos will cover four chapters each and hopefully end up at about an hour each.

There is a list of time marks in the description so you can jump to particular parts if you want. There are also links to other videos from us explaining different words or concepts further. We hope this series (along with other videos such as our Book of Galatians effort) will help the seeker of truth figure out how to explain their faith easily and biblically to the many (many, many, many) skeptics he or she will encounter.

Shalom
Bruce

Posted in Atonement • Authority • Balance • Church • Gentiles • Gospel • Grace • Israel • Jews • Judaism • Law • Love • New Covenant • Old Covenant • Paul Teachings • Righteousness • Sabbath • Tradition • Translational Bias • Worship

Freedom from Sabbath Keeping

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Hey All,

Just spent a few days writing a new article which is a point-by-point response to an article by Ray Comfort that he titled Freedom From Sabbath Keeping. It took a while, because the article is filled with a lot of, shall we say, less than biblical information.

Ray is a good guy as far as I know, and has a lot of good teaching. I have quoted from him, and use some of his material in my conversations with atheists. However, there are a number of areas where he falls short of biblical truth, and a bunch of them are in this article. So I went through it and inserted my comments directly into his text. I included Bible verses and commentary all with a whole Bible perspective. You’ll find a nicely organized selection of responses to what are also typical Christian arguments against observing the Sabbath. Why people would reject a day off from God is beyond me, but they do. So this article should help you with standard Christian objections to observing the whole of the Word, not just the Sabbath.

An excerpt from Point by Point through the Ray Comfort article Freedom from Sabbath Keeping. His words are in red, my comments are in square brackets and in blue (on the web page they are just in a different font).

Let’s briefly look at their arguments. First, nowhere does the Fourth Commandment say that we are to “worship” on the Sabbath Day. [True. Worship was every day. The act of resting on the Sabbath is worship. Worship has taken on an inadequate meaning in the intervening centuries, and it used to be that worship included sacrifices. But worship has always been obedience at its root.] It commands that we rest on that day: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8-11). [Notice that he does not answer the issue he raises: why does the church not “rest” on the Sabbath?] Sabbath-keepers worship on the Saturday. [No. Sabbath keepers might MEET on Saturday, but worship is obedience and for every day.] Do they know where the word “Saturday” comes from? It’s from the Latin word “Saturnus–Saturn + Old English dæg day.” Obviously Saturday is from the pagan day of worship of the planet Saturn (astrology). [In spite of the attempt at sarcasm, I can agree here. However, Saturday is also the seventh day, and therefore the Sabbath. The name of the day is not important. But the Sabbath is.

And another excerpt.

The Scriptures tell us that at one point, the Apostles especially gathered to discuss the attitude of the Christian to the Law of Moses. [This is biblically incorrect. The council in Acts 15 met mainly to discuss salvation by circumcision (verse 1). This was proved to be wrong. Salvation was coming to Gentiles without circumcision and by grace through faith just as Abraham and JUST AS THE JEWS (who had the Law). Verse 5 also asks a question about following the Law, which was answered in verse 21 (Moses is read in the synagogue every Sabbath.) This meant 1) Moses is read. 2) Moses is read in the synagogue where all believers met at the time. 3) They met every Sabbath.] Acts 15:10-11, 24-29 was God’s opportunity to make His will clear to His children. [Biblically incorrect. God had been making His will clear to His children for a long, long time.] All He had to do to save millions from damnation was say, “Remember to keep the Sabbath holy,” and millions of Christ-centered, God-loving, Bible-believing Christians would have gladly kept it. [Not so. He already said many times to remember the Sabbath, and just about as many times was ignored. He is still being ignored today as is evidenced by this article by Ray. Many Christians do not want to obey God’s commands. Mostly because we do not want an objective, absolute standard. We want to give ourselves permission to sin.

Enjoy the article.
Shalom,
Bruce