|
We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: (II Peter 1:19) |
|
Peter was with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. He heard the voice of the Father bearing witness of Jesus. |
|
Now Peter is speaking of "a more sure word of prophecy." |
|
What could be more sure than the voice of God from the bright cloud? |
|
Only one thing the written Word of God. |
|
Peter says we do well that we pay attention to the Scriptures. |
|
All Evangelicals chorus, "Oh yes, we must pay attention to the Scriptures. They are the very Word of God. We hold resolutely to the plenary verbal inspiration of the Hebrew and Greek texts. Oh yes indeed!" |
|
But we do not do it. |
|
Why don't we pay attention to the Scriptures? |
|
Because we have been taught we do not have to do what they command because we are saved grace and not by works or righteousness we have done. |
|
If we have no intention of obeying the commands of the New Testament why do we bother to read it? |
|
We have changed the Great Commission. The Great Commission commands us to go to every nation, make disciples, and teach them to keep Christ's commandments including His commandments given through His Apostles. |
|
We absolutely do not do this. |
|
To us the Great Commission is, "Go to every nation. Get souls saved. Tell them they are saved by grace and do not have to keep the commandments of Christ and His Apostles. Tell them they are to go out and tell other souls they can be saved by grace without keeping the commandments of Christ and His Apostles. And build churches and bring as many people into them as you can so they can learn they are saved by grace and do not have to keep the commandments of Christ and His Apostles." |
|
Am I right or wrong? If I am right somebody ought to do something about it instead of business as usual. |
|
The bottom line is, the Christians do not keep Christ's commandments. Is this God's will? No. Is this Satan's will? Definitely yes. |
|
Well let's see. Did Christ give us any commandments? Yes, He assuredly did. |
|
Name one if you please. |
|
"Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute you." |
|
Now, are we supposed to do this or not? |
|
"Well it would be nice if we did but we are saved by grace and not by works of righteousness we have done." |
|
We are certainly making Christ out to be a fool who gave us commandments we are not supposed to keep! |
|
Let me point out to you, Christ said, "He who endures to the end shall be saved." The footnotes of my Bible, a popular Evangelical edition, say it is not necessary for us to endure to the end because we are saved by an unconditional grace. |
|
God said He who endures to the end shall be saved. |
|
To be continued. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. (I John 3:4) |
|
Brother, Sister, we have come to a time of profound apostasy due to an erroneous understanding of Divine grace. |
|
We might as well throw out the four Gospels because we can safely ignore the commandments of Christ. This includes discarding the need for being born again because this requirement is found in the Gospel of John. |
|
We should get rid of the Great Commission on two counts. First, it is found in the Gospel of Matthew (which safely can be ignored). Second, the Great Commission commands us to keep Christ's commandments. Since we do not have to keep Christ's commandments we can forget the Great Commission because we are saved by grace and not by keeping Christ's commandments. It doesn't matter anyway because we have corrupted the Great Commission. |
|
I'm having fun writing this. I hope you are enjoying reading it. |
|
My opinion is that we are absolutely bound by all the commandments of Christ and His Apostles and if we do not keep them we do not love the Lord and we have about as much chance of the Day Star rising in our heart as we do of jumping over the moon. |
|
So much for the current Evangelical destruction of the Gospels and the Great Commission. Let's see if we have better luck with the Epistles. |
|
Are there any commandments in the Epistles? Yes, several hundred. |
|
Name one. |
|
"Present your body a living sacrifice to God." |
|
What if I don't do this, will I still go to Heaven? I don't know about Heaven but I think you have about as much chance of having the approval of Christ as a snowball in the Sahara Desert in the summer. |
|
"Well I don't care about the approval of Christ just as long as I get to Heaven." |
|
That's about the attitude today. |
|
What a bunch of stupid fools the Apostles were. Here they gave all of these commandments knowing the believers do not have to keep them because they are saved by grace and not by works of righteousness they have done. |
|
People, we are messed up on the grand scale. Evangelical doctrine is not only not building up the believers into the image of Christ it is steering them in the wrong direction. We have a bunch of silly spiritual babies who know nothing of the severity of God, waiting to be caught up to Heaven in an unscriptural "rapture." |
|
Big trouble is close at hand. There will be no rapture. The Lord impressed me recently to begin to teach the Psalms because they will hold us steady throughout the age of horrors, the Gentile holocaust that is on the horizon. |
|
We all better set our house in order because destruction is on the way. |
|
I don't enjoy raining on the Evangelical parade (you lose fellowship that way) but I have to do it. Jesus has commanded me to feed His sheep and that includes warning them when the wolf is at the door. |
|
To be continued. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If ye love me, keep my commandments. (John 14:15) |
|
We fundamentalists are wrong! wrong! wrong in our teaching of grace. Grace is not an alternative to keeping God's commandments. What have we been thinking of? |
|
Now we have a nation of Christians who have been taught they do not have to keep God's commandments. Brother, they are doing exactly as they have been taught. Thank God for the recent revival of repentance. When you hear the confessions of the Christians, leaders and congregations alike, you will realize they have not been keeping Christ's commandments. They have had bad teaching! |
|
Let's look at our verse again. |
|
We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: (II Peter 1:19) |
|
How do we keep the "more sure word of prophecy"? By going before the Throne of Grace and getting help in our time of need. |
|
Christ commanded us to bless our enemies. How do we do that when it is so difficult? By praying and asking God to help us. He indeed will help us. Some of the Virtue of Christ on the cross will flow into our life and we will be able, as He, to forgive those who harm us, to pray for our enemies. |
|
The Apostle Paul commanded us to present our body a living sacrifice. How do we do that when our adamic nature is whining like the spoiled brat it is? |
|
We go to the Throne of Grace and get help from God. God sends His Holy Spirit and the first thing you know we have the desire and strength to hold up our body before God as a sacrifice that we might prove His will for our life. This is our reasonable service of worship. |
|
How do we keep all the commandments of Christ? By living as a Christian should and asking God for help in Jesus' name. |
|
How do we keep all the commandments of the Apostles? By living as a Christian should and asking God for help in Jesus' name. |
|
What if we don't keep the commandments of Christ and His Apostles? |
|
In this case we are not a Christian, a disciple. We may be a church attender but we most assuredly are not a Christian. |
|
Our destiny is outer darkness. We have buried our talent. |
|
God's wrath and the severity of His judgments are not constrained by American sentimentality. Be sure you understand this. You are facing an Oriental Monarch not a weak politician who is trying to get the people to love him and who is afraid of lawyers and public opinion. |
|
By "a more sure word of prophecy" Peter was referring to the Scriptures, particularly the Old Testament. That's all they had at that time, but I am sure God also counts the New Testament writings as Scripture. |
|
We hear Christians saying the Old Testament does not apply to us. They are mistaken. Except for the covenantal statutes of the Law of Moses, such as circumcision and the dietary laws, the Old Testament is the very foundation on which we are to build. |
|
In fact, Peter tells us that the Prophets were not speaking to their own generation but to the Christian people. |
|
To be continued. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: (Colossians 1:27) |
|
The things and incidents of the Old Testament were written for our instruction. Everybody knows that. They are a light shining in a dark place. How is it true then that the Old Testament does not apply to us? If the Old Testament does not apply to us then forget about the 23rd and 91st Psalms. |
|
We have crazy teaching today! |
|
The commandments of the Old Testament and the New Testament concern righteous, holy behavior and obedience to God. We are to keep all of these commandments by the wisdom and power of the grace God gives to us. They are a light shining in a dark place. This is true also of the gifts and ministries of the Holy Spirit. All of the blessings and graces of God lead to one thing: the rising of the Day Star in our heart. |
|
We are to keep the commandments of God by the help God gives us much greater help now than was true under any preceding covenant. |
|
However, keeping the commandments of God is not the new covenant but leads us to the new covenant. |
|
I hope you took note of the preceding sentence for it is the heart of what we are saying to you. |
|
The new covenant is the rising of the Day Star in our heart. |
|
We spoke in a previous essay of the two day stars. Jesus Christ is a day star and Satan (Lucifer) is a day star. Both day stars speak of the new age to come. |
|
The New Agers refer to the new age as "the Age of Aquarius," the age of the water bearer. Their God is Lucifer. |
|
Jesus Christ refers to the new age as the Kingdom of God. Jesus' God is the Father. |
|
Both day stars have their throne in the heart of man. |
|
Now you have to make up your mind which day star you wish to follow, whom you want in your heart. Lucifer is offering you the water of moral filth. Jesus Christ is offering you the water of eternal life. |
|
Deep in your heart you want either Satan or Jesus. You are going to get what you want so rejoice. |
|
Some poor soul will think, "I really want Jesus but I think in my heart I want Satan." If you are in this condition ask God to make you want to want Jesus. God will work with your "want to wants." The truth is you really do want Jesus but you recognize the depravity of your fallen nature. Not to fear! God will pull you up out of the slime if you ask Him. |
|
All those who hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled. This is the promise of God. |
|
If we are to enter the new covenant we must keep God's commandments. We have to do this in our adamic nature as God's grace enables us. God will make it possible for us to do what He has commanded us if we will pray, read the Bible, confess our sins and turn away from them, serve, give, seek the gifts of the Spirit, assemble with fervent Christians, and do all else that is part of the life of the disciple. |
|
But keeping God's commandments in our adamic nature by His grace is not the new covenant. The new covenant is the rising of the Day Star in our heart. However we will never enter the new covenant, the rising of the Day Star, except as we by God's help keep His commandments. We will not be entrusted with the greater except as we are faithful in the lesser. |
|
To be continued. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low: and upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, and upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols he shall utterly abolish. (Isaiah 2:12-18) |
|
"Until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." |
|
"Until the day dawn." |
|
The "day" is the Day of the Lord. |
|
As we through the Spirit keep the commandments of God the day of the Lord dawns in our heart. We say day with a lower case "d" to distinguish that which dawns in our heart from the worldwide Day of the Lord that will fill the creation. |
|
The day of the Lord in our heart is that condition of our personality where the Lord alone is exalted. We have to go through much tribulation, much chastening, before all the works and pleasures of the flesh all of our "dead works" are brought under the feet of Jesus Christ. |
|
The cedars of Lebanon (above) that are high and lifted up, the oaks of Bashan, the high mountains, the hills that are lifted up, the high towers, the fenced walls, the ships of Tarshish, the pleasant pictures, are all speaking of aspects of the human heart. |
|
The idols must be utterly abolished. |
|
To be in the place where the Lord alone is exalted in your heart is to experience the spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish feast of Tabernacles. It is to be in the rest of God. |
|
All the worldliness, lusts of the flesh, and self-will have to be brought down and Christ exalted in us. |
|
As we seek to keep the commandments of God, through His enabling grace, the day of the Lord rises in us. We are to do all in our power to work with the Holy Spirit as He brings down every idol and exalts the Lord Jesus. He must increase but we must decrease. |
|
When Jesus appears those in whom the day of the Lord has been formed will go throughout the creation. This is how the Day of the Lord will come to the earth. It will not drop down from Heaven it will proceed from within the saints. |
|
We can see at a glance that those who have wasted their time, not following hard after Christ in total discipleship, will not be raised to appear with Jesus. They still are part of the problem. The Day of the Lord cannot be brought to the earth through them, obviously. |
|
But there is something that heralds the new day and that is the planet Venus, the day star. It is Christ being formed in us who is the Day Star announcing the great Day of the Lord, the day when the Lord alone is exalted. |
|
To be continued. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, (Galatians 4:19) |
|
God will not dwell in human flesh. Christ must be formed in us first. Then Christ and God Themselves come and dwell in the new creation that has been formed in us. |
|
Notice how the new covenant operates. When we first come to the Lord He forgives our sins. He puts a part of Himself in us and we are born again of the incorruptible Seed. He touches us with a deposit of the Holy Spirit that is the eternal Life of God in us. Now we have the authority (the blood of Christ) and the wisdom and power of God (the Holy Spirit) to enter the Kingdom of God, which is the doing of God's will in the earth as it is in Heaven. |
|
It also is true that the Divine Life of Christ has been conceived in us. Something has been born in us. |
|
Now all the grace God has given us goes into action. We have access to the Holy of Holies in Heaven. We have the written testimony of the Apostles. We have the fellowship of fervent believers. We have the ministries and gifts of the Holy Spirit to bring us to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. |
|
The goal is the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God, the rest of God, is Christ Himself. He is the Resurrection, the eternal Life, the Kingdom, the Rest, the complete and perfect Goal toward which we are to be pressing. |
|
Each day a portion of evil and a portion of Divine good is placed before us. It is up to our adamic man to be willing to choose to overcome the evil with the Divine good. |
|
If we indeed have a faithful and good heart and fight the good fight of faith our adamic nature will be weakened that day and a corresponding growth of Christ will occur. It is the growth of Christ that is the Kingdom, the eternal house of God. It is the growth of Christ that is itself the new covenant, the engraving of the Word of God in our mind and heart. |
|
First we keep the commandments of God by the help the Lord gives us. Then as Christ is formed in us we begin to keep the commandments of God by nature, by the Divine Nature that is being formed in us. |
|
The Divine Nature does not sin and cannot sin. |
|
Our adamic nature drinks sin and rebellion like water. God is not reforming our adamic nature but crucifying it. As our adamic nature is crucified the very resurrection Life of Christ is developed in us. Now we are able to keep God's commandments easily and naturally. |
|
The new covenant is not an excuse to sin. The new covenant frees us from the old by substituting a new law, the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. |
|
We are crucified with Christ. Nevertheless we live. Yet it is not we who are living but Christ who is living in us. Even though the Law of Moses no longer has jurisdiction over us we still do not transgress the moral law of God. We do not sin because the new Nature of Christ in us does not and cannot sin. |
|
To be continued. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. (John 14:23) |
|
Each believer is at some point on a continuum between the fullness of the adamic nature and the fullness of Christ. As we move away from the fullness of the adamic nature and toward the fullness of Christ we increasingly are able to overcome worldliness, lust, and self-will. In the meanwhile the blood of the cross keeps us without condemnation. |
|
When the Lord returns He will remove from your personality the last vestiges of worldliness, the lusts of the flesh, self-seeking and self-will. Then you will be clothed with a new body that has been formed by your patiently putting to death the deeds of your body through the Holy Spirit. How you will rejoice as you find in your new body a total rejection of sin and an embracing of righteousness! This is your reward for fighting against sin under the handicaps of life on earth. |
|
Let not the lukewarm Christian think he will receive such a body of righteousness! He has sown to his flesh and he will reap corruption. He has not been faithful in the least and will not be entrusted with the greater. |
|
We have a generation of Christian believers today who imagine they will appear with Christ as giants of righteousness and power. They have been woefully deceived by those who have sought their own gain. |
|
The blind are leading the blind and they all will be in the ditch in that day. They will be vomited from the Lord's mouth. |
|
The mammoth error of our day is the teaching that we are without condemnation even though we are not making progress toward the fullness of Christ, are not overcoming sin through the Spirit, are making little effort to keep the commandments of God. |
|
This is a truly awesome error. It probably is the greatest heresy ever to affect Christian thinking. It is the ancient heresy of antinomianism dating back to the first century A. D. |
|
There are two aspects of Christ in us. The first is the forming of Christ in us, which has to do with the creation of the Divine Nature in our personality. The second is the coming of the Father and the Son to dwell in that new creation, that house, that has been formed in us. |
|
If we love Christ we will keep His words. As we keep the words of Christ His Divine nature is formed in us. This is a new creation, a re- creation of what we are in personality. |
|
The purpose of this re-creation is to provide a dwelling place for God the Father through Christ. This is the meaning of "In My Father's house are many rooms." Each Christian is to be a room, a living stone in the Father's house, of which the Lord Jesus Christ is the chief Cornerstone. |
|
The description in the Book of Ezekiel of the new temple is referring in symbolic language to the exceedingly great care given to preparing each stone of the house of God. There must be guardrooms, stone tables of sacrifice, ways in which people enter and exit. Every detail must be observed as in the Tabernacle of the Congregation. |
|
This is why you are subjected to continual pressures. The Spirit of God is forming you, preparing you to be the throne of God and His Christ. |
|
Never, never, never give up. You are destined to be the dwelling place to the King of all kings. Your end will be glorious if you don't quit. |
|
When Jesus appears His kings will appear with Him. They are filled with God in Christ and will go about releasing the creation from the curse of futility and corruption. They will bring the saved nations into the liberty that always accompanies the glory of the children of God. |
|
Search the Scriptures and see if what we have written is true. If so, forget the sorry example set by so many churches. They will only drag you down. Go for God with all your might. Set your house in order. We don't have too long in America. |
|
A new day is dawning. It is Christ in us. When Christ has dawned in us a new day will dawn in the world. We are approaching the morning of the Day of the Lord. The path of those who are keeping God's commandments will shine until the glorious radiance of the rainbow Throne appears on the horizon, the army of the Lord stands at attention, and the angelic chorus thunders the Good News: "The kingdoms of this world have become the Kingdom of our God and of His Messiah and He shall reign forever and ever. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!" |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
