FAILURE TO UNDERSTAND ISRAEL’S JUSTIFICATION
Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Rom 1:17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. There are many who do not view O.T. justification in God’s sight to be ‘by grace through faith without works.’ As far as I am concerned, such a view is a great weak spot in the ‘grace movement,’ (one which has detrimental effects even to the point of being a hindrance to godly edifying), and it has existed as such for as long as I have been around and even well before that. As Paul makes clear in his dealings with Romans, Corinthians, and Galatians, there are issues that...
Read MoreTHE RISE AND DESTRUCTION OF SATAN
Eze 28:12 Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Eze 28:13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Eze 28:14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Eze 28:15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till...
Read MoreELECTION AND PREDESTINATION FOR THE SAINTS?
Isa 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Isa 1:19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: Isa 1:20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. It is evident to me from the testimony of Genesis 1-3 that God created man with free will. And even though man fell through the exercise of that free will and became a sinner by nature, the capacity of man to continue to exercise that free will and so respond either positively or negatively to God was not eradicated, destroyed, or imprisoned. This is evidenced to me immediately after the...
Read MoreDETAILS OF THE PIT AND WHERE IT IS LOCATED
Psa 69:14 Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters. Psa 69:15 Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. First of all my understanding is that “the pit” is the basic description of the fact that there is a shaft like cavity that descends into the earth, just like the word “pit” is used to describe a hole or cavity going deep into the ground, or the shaft of some excavation leading into the earth. This shaft like cavity descends into the earth and right into the heart of the earth. In connection with this, it is described as “the bottomless pit,” having no visible of detectable bottom, nor designated or...
Read MoreTHE JERUSALEM WHICH IS ABOVE
Gal 4:22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. Gal 4:23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Gal 4:24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. Gal 4:25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. Gal 4:26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. In accordance with the overall issue of God’s design and purpose for the earth, and particularly in accordance with the issue of Him replicating what He has in His Heaven on the earth in the very land of...
Read More“REDEMTION,” “PROPITIATION,” AND “JUSTIFICATION”
Rom 3:21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Rom 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Rom 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: There is a legitimate distinction between the issue of the provision the Lord Jesus Christ made on the cross for the complete forgiveness of a person’s sins, and the actual response of God’s Justice to that person which results in His Justice completely forgiving him all of his sins past, present, and future. And this legitimate distinction is...
Read MoreDOES GOD BLESS THE BELIEVER WITH MATERIAL THINGS TODAY PT.1
I understand the issue of us being ‘blessed’ by God in this present dispensation of His grace to be sort of like the counterpart to the issue of chastening in this dispensation; or the ‘flip side’ of the same sonship coin, so to speak. And so just as I understand that chastening in this present dispensation is of the ‘sonship variety,’ and as such differs from the physical, circumstantial type chastening of childhood common in God’s program with Israel, so also do I understand the same to be the case with God’s blessing. It too differs from the physical, material, and circumstantial type blessings of childhood common in God’s program with Israel. Therefore, we have ‘sonship blessing’ today, if I can put it that way, in contrast to ‘childhood blessing.’ And since...
Read MoreDOES GOD CHASTIZE THE SAINTS TODAY?
First of all in my understanding the issue of chastisement is easy to understand, appreciate, and recognize, when we are in God’s program and dealings with Israel; especially in the “time past” portion of Israel’s program. As passages like Leviticus 26 set forth, God’s chastisement of them was a natural part of the contracted curses and punishments of the Law contract. Since Israel opted to be dealt with by God on the basis of their works, and hence receive from His Justice what their works merited, their failure to produce the righteousness of the Law merited the specific physical and circumstantial punishments of chastisement that are set forth and delineated in the Law. Therefore physical and circumstantial chastisement in God’s program with Israel was a...
Read MoreWHAT IS THE MEANING OF “THE LAW OF CHRIST”?
Gal 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Gal 6:2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. Gal 6:3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. Briefly stated, my understanding is that in view of the corrective doctrine that Paul has set forth in the first 4 chapters of Galatians, (which is designed to effectually remedy the corruptive effects of the ‘bewitching’ doctrine that removed them from the truth of “the gospel of Christ” and from the truth of who God has made them to be “in Christ”), beginning in 5:1 and to the end of the epistle Paul now charges these...
Read MoreHOW IS THE BELIEVER “FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT”?
Eph 5:17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. Eph 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; First off, my understanding is that being “filled with the Spirit” as per Ephesians 5:18 is not some mystical, or emotional, or ecstatic and/or supernatural experience involving the Holy Spirit. Nor is the ‘filling’ that Paul is talking about the same kind of ‘filling’ found in Israel’s program, which occurred with the prophets in general when they prophesied, or with the remnant of Israel when they were “baptized with the Holy Ghost” in connection with receiving “power from on high” in order for them to fulfill the prophesied signs, wonders, and miracles spoken about in connection with the...
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