Category: denominationalism

Redeem the Year!

Monday, January 1, 2024

“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:15-17 KJV).

What great advice for 2024!

Despite 2,000 years of Bible schools and seminaries, 2,000 years of a completed Bible canon, 2,000 years of Bible reading in churches, several decades of “Christian” television and radio, and a decade-plus of widespread use of “Christian” websites, how sad that Bible ignorance is still quite extensive (it is as if God never gave His Word to start with!).

Frankly, the Church the Body of Christ needs to wake up! The verse previous to today’s Scripture says, “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light” (verse 14). Paul, loosely quoting Isaiah 60:1, reminded us that the spiritual ignorance that gripped Israel in Isaiah’s day seized Christians in his day—and it still grips Christians 20 centuries later. Feel-good sermons, enjoyable “worship” services, and rites, rituals, and ceremonies will NOT solve this problem—they exacerbate it!

“[God] will have all men to be saved…” (1 Timothy 2:4a). Do you want this New Year to count for God’s glory? First, you need to get saved from sins and hell! You need to become a Christian by trusting in and relying on Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection as sufficient payment for your sins (1 Corinthians 15:3,4). That is only part of God’s will for you, for 1 Timothy 2:4b continues, “[God] will have all men… to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” Now, God’s will for your Christian life is daily, personal Bible study to renew your mind, so your faith in those verses can cause God to work in your life—it will be His life, thus making you “perfect [spiritually mature], throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16,17).

Today’s Scripture urges us to buy back the time Satan has robbed from God (time created for God’s glory). By faith, we need to make that time glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by applying His Word, particularly Paul’s epistles of Romans through Philemon, to our lives. Have a good year in Christ! 🙂

You can download our free “One-Year Bible Reading Schedule.”

See our archived Bible Q&A: “What Scriptural advice can you give me for the New Year?”

The Misunderstood Messiah #5

Saturday, December 30, 2023

“Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God” (John 8:41 KJV).

Did you ever notice the magnitude of the insult put forth toward Jesus Christ in today’s Scripture?

Once Christ replied with sound doctrine (verses 42-47), Israel’s religious leaders simply resorted to name-calling again (verse 48): “Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?” A Samaritan was half-Jew/half-Gentile, and “the Jews [had] no dealings with the Samaritans” (John 4:9). Notice Jesus was insulted twice more—they called Him a “Samaritan” and “devil possessed.” Throughout the rest of John chapter 8, Israel’s religious leaders continue arguing with Jesus and nearly stone Him to death (verse 59)!

Why did Jesus not simply “zap” these religionists and instantly throw them into hellfire? They belittled and blasphemed Him several times in this one account, and then attempted to murder Him, but rather than Jesus killing them with His spoken word (which would have been justified), He only conversed with them. Why?

Remember, when the Apostles James and John saw how the Samaritans refused to accommodate Jesus, they asked Him if He wanted them to call down fire from heaven and consume those sinners, He replied, “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them” (Luke 9:55,56). This First Coming of Christ was His “meek and lowly” coming: He did not come to judge man’s sins, but to die for them!

Even today, God is still not pouring out His wrath on wicked mankind (2 Corinthians 5:19), creatures who still snicker at Jesus Christ, deceive others in His name, persecute His saints, ignore His Word, and “rub His nose” in their sins. Lost mankind is wasting God’s grace and mercy that He is offering so freely. When His grace is finally exhausted, the undiluted wrath that has accumulated will finally be poured out (His Second Coming). May we trust Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour now so we have our sins forgiven now, lest we face that angry, righteous God in judgment (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9)!

For more information, you may also see our archived Bible Q&A: “Did God ‘rape’ Mary?”

‘Twas the Sunday Night Before Christmas

Sunday, December 24, 2023

“But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15 KJV).

Let us not be so sidetracked by religion and commercialization that we miss the reason for the Christmas Season….

During the Christmas Season, we wonder how many people are visiting church for the second time this year (the other being Easter Sunday). How many will be going to church today—the Sunday before Christmas—just to feel “religious” or “holy?” How many really know Jesus Christ? For many, visiting a church building is just an obligation; they do not have faith in God’s Word and have no interest in God’s Word.

We do not go to church to “feel closer to God,” for if we have trusted in Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour, we cannot be any closer to God than we already are in Christ! “[Before salvation, we were] without God in the world: but now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh [close to God] by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:12,13).

Furthermore, we do not go to church in order to get God’s blessings, for God has already given us “all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). We go to church, not because we are keeping Israel’s Sabbath day, since we are not obligated to observe Israel’s religious days (Colossians 2:16). We go to church to fellowship with like-minded believers and hear sound doctrine… more than twice a year, by the way.

In today’s Scripture, the Apostle Paul encouraged Timothy that whenever he would assemble with fellow Christians, certain behavior was acceptable and other types of behavior were not (described throughout the epistle of 1 Timothy). Recall that when the Bible refers to “the church,” it refers to the body of believers, not the physical building in which they meet.

As we get opportunities, let us make an effort to reach these dear souls misled by all the vain religious tradition and Christmas commercialization, and may we tell them of the wonderful Christ Jesus whose name is found in Christmas!

*Based on the poem “‘Twas the Sunday Night Before Christmas.”

Arrayed in Hypocrisy

Tuesday, October 31, 2023

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity” (Matthew 23:27,28 KJV).

“Looks can be deceiving” is not only true during Halloweentime, but confirmed year-round within Christendom.

Today is Halloween, when children dress up and feign themselves to be creatures they are not. Likewise, many church leaders today wear “Christian” garbs, but their ministries do not bring the Lord Jesus Christ glory and honor. They promote their denomination, and seek to perpetuate it, rather than serve and exalt the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. The Bible manifests these who appear to be good, as “wolves in sheep’s clothing.”

In today’s Scripture, Jesus Christ exposed Israel’s corrupt religious leaders who misled the nation in His day. In His Parable of the Tares, Matthew 13:24-30,37-43, Christ explained how just as He had sown good seed (wheat, believing Jews) in Israel, Satan had also sown tares/weeds (unbelieving Jews). Tares resemble wheat; unbelieving Jews resemble believing Jews. The unbelieving Pharisees and scribes, for instance, looked like God’s people (believing Israel). Judas Iscariot was another example of Satan’s tares—the apostles never realized who Judas really was until it was too late!

But Satan’s counterfeit believers are not confined to Israel’s program. Today, within local assemblies of the Body of Christ, there are people feigning themselves to be Christians: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).

Beloved, beware of the church leaders who are arrayed in hypocrisy, “and avoid them” (Romans 16:17b). If their teaching does not agree with the rightly divided King James Bible, you have no business as a child of God to be listening to them.

*This is excerpted from a larger Bible study with the same name. The Bible study can be read here or watched here.

You may also see our special study, “Should Christians celebrate Halloween?” In addition, “What does the Bible say about ghosts?”

Perceive Ye How Ye Prevail Nothing? #8

Monday, October 30, 2023

“The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him” (John 12:19 KJV).

Behold, the lamentation of professional religious leaders whose system is in jeopardy!

It is human nature to strive to be at the center of attention (note well how “sin” and “pride” both share the same middle letter!). We seek to believe and do whatever we want, so we turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to God’s words (the very words that describe what He believes and does). That was unbelieving Israel’s chief problem in today’s Scripture. How hard they tried—how hard they tried!!—to eliminate their “competitor” in “ministry.” It was just an exercise in futility, which they begrudgingly admitted and know well even now 20 centuries later.

“Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him.” No matter what those religious leaders attempted to do to silence Him, or how underhanded they were in bringing it to pass, the Lord Jesus was still popular with the common Jewish people. Nevertheless, these “religious teachers” would not and did not submit to Messiah. Instead, they kept pursuing that line of wishful thinking that they could rid themselves and their nation, once and for all, of this “Troublemaker!”

No doubt they murdered Jesus their Messiah or Christ. It was premeditated, carefully planned and carried out. What else could they do to ensure their religious machine—their religious organization controlling the nation—would survive? Even now, the people of our world scheme to accomplish their own words and works. In some way or another, they hope to save themselves without the God of the Bible, without Christianity, without Holy Scripture. May they listen well! “Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end. There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand” (Proverbs 19:20,21).

Just as the Lord Jesus Christ came back from the dead totally victorious, He will come back to our fallen world completely triumphant! “For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14).

Perceive Ye How Ye Prevail Nothing? #7

Sunday, October 29, 2023

“The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him” (John 12:19 KJV).

Behold, the lamentation of professional religious leaders whose system is in jeopardy!

In Acts chapter 5, while the Sanhedrin members consider killing Christ’s Apostles, a dissenting or disagreeing voice interjects: “[34] Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space; [35] And said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men. [36] For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought. [37] After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed. [38] And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: [39] But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.”

Gamaliel—a well-known rabbi or Jewish teacher even now (2,000 years later!)—was willing to give the Apostles the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they really were serving the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was thus open to sparing their lives, and they were delivered from execution (read verses 40-42). If they were following a false “messiah”—who were multiplied during that time, including Theudas and Judas of Galilee (verses 36,37)—the movement would be manmade and thus fizzle. However, Gamaliel might have had some spiritual light from Joseph of Arimathaea or Nicodemus, his Messianic Jewish colleagues of the Sanhedrin (Mark 15:43; Luke 23:50,51; John 3:1,2; John 7:45-53). Not necessarily a believer, Gamaliel was nevertheless quite right in warning, “But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.”

Let us summarize and conclude this devotionals arc….

Perceive Ye How Ye Prevail Nothing? #6

Saturday, October 28, 2023

“The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him” (John 12:19 KJV).

Behold, the lamentation of professional religious leaders whose system is in jeopardy!

The same religious leaders who had so viciously opposed and killed the Lord Jesus kept violently resisting Him in resurrection as His Little Flock (filled with the Holy Ghost) conducted their ministry during the early Acts period. Sermon after sermon is preached to call Israel to repentance (change in mind) and faith (in Jesus as Christ/Messiah). The response is overwhelmingly negative, with just a believing remnant. By the time of chapter 5, the Apostles, having been imprisoned and subsequently freed by the angel of the Lord, are now recaptured and on trial before the Sanhedrin (Jewish Supreme Court).

We read in chapter 5 of Acts: “[25] Then came one and told them, saying, Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people. [26] Then went the captain with the officers [the Jerusalem Temple police!], and brought them without violence: for they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned. [27] And when they had brought them, they set them before the council [Sanhedrin]: and the high priest asked them, [28] Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.

“[29] Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. [30] The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. [31] Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. [32] And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him. [33] When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them.”

Let us see if the Apostles will live or die….

Perceive Ye How Ye Prevail Nothing? #5

Friday, October 27, 2023

“The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him” (John 12:19 KJV).

Behold, the lamentation of professional religious leaders whose system is in jeopardy!

Read the Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen in Matthew 21:33-46, Mark 12:1-12, and Luke 20:9-20. Jesus spoke those words to Israel’s apostate religious leaders just two days before they put Him to death. He announced—to their surprise, no doubt!—that He knew very well how they were conniving to murder Him. Like selfish farmers who refused to give the vineyard over to the Owner’s Son, they wanted to keep their positions of power instead of relinquishing the nation’s government to Him (God’s Son)!

Church leaders need to be especially careful they do not turn into such individuals who are “drunk on power.” They can become so irrationally obsessed with controlling people that, eventually, it is no longer the Holy Spirit guiding the assembly but the minister’s flesh (someone’s scholarship, opinions, hunches, speculations). Unless it teaches or endorses something they want to believe or promote, the Holy Bible is set aside. The denominational hierarchy cares more about perpetuating longtime traditions than sound Bible doctrine. This was the Judaism of Christ’s earthly ministry, and it is the Judaism even now. They are more familiar with manmade ideas (“interpretations of verses”) than they are with actual Bible verses. Christendom is just as corrupt, deceived, and immature in Scripture.

Do not think it farfetched, dear friend, that there are people in “Christian ministry” (HA!) right now who would, like ancient Israel’s spiritual leaders, kill Jesus Christ in a heartbeat if it meant saving their false theological system from exposure, ruin, or obliteration. He is not here physically, but we are, and how they shamefully treat us is how they would handle Him if He were here because He is in us by means of the indwelling Holy Spirit (and this they do not like!). Like Him, we are outcasts. The world does not want us. The denominations do not want us. Let them fight us, for they without the rightly divided Scripture will—like ancient Israel’s stubborn religious leaders—prevail nothing in the grand scheme of things….

Perceive Ye How Ye Prevail Nothing? #4

Thursday, October 26, 2023

“The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him” (John 12:19 KJV).

Behold, the lamentation of professional religious leaders whose system is in jeopardy!

It was an understatement to say Israel’s apostate religious authorities were disgusted. After their numerous repeated attempts to challenge Him, discredit Him, arrest Him, assassinate Him—the Lord Jesus Christ was still alive and now (horror of horrors!) He was being welcomed into Jerusalem for Palm Sunday (today’s Scripture)! To some extent they would admit failure on their part: “Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing?” That is, they asked each other in annoyance, “Can you not see how you have not defeated Him, stopped Him, done away with Him?! He is still here, bothering us as usual, attracting the crowds who should be watching and listening to us!!!”

Dear friends, how truly pitiful it is when people who have believed a lie for a long time, would rather keep the error they have, than believe the truth when confronted with it. This was the case during Christ’s earthly ministry and it is relevant even now. It was not a lack of evidence that caused their unbelief. It was not faulty evidence that produced their unbelief. It was willful ignorance—a deliberate, intentional disregard—of the overwhelming evidence they saw and heard that caused their unbelief. Countless billions find themselves in the same predicament: refusing to come to the Creator and Saviour Jesus Christ by faith, His Word rightly divided, the King James Bible in English, and on and on.

Furthermore, we should remember how we are not the issue in ministry, but the Lord Jesus Christ is the issue. Israel’s apostate religious leaders were irritated because He was receiving more attention than they were. However, they had such high opinions of themselves that they had forgotten how they were mere creatures whereas He was the magnificent Creator. Was it not appropriate that the King be at the center of the merriment? Was it not His nation they were to be taking care of? See, they were self-willed—refusing to hand Christ’s nation over to Him. Like so many church leaders even now, they were not God’s servants at all….

Perceive Ye How Ye Prevail Nothing? #3

Wednesday, October 25, 2023

“The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him” (John 12:19 KJV).

Behold, the lamentation of professional religious leaders whose system is in jeopardy!

Today’s Scripture regards Palm Sunday, the weekend just before Jesus’ crucifixion: “[12] On the next day much people that were come to the feast [Passover], when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, [13] Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna [Save!]: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. [14] And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written, [15] Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass’s colt. [16] These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him. [17] The people therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave, and raised him from the dead, bare record. [18] For this cause the people also met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle. [19] The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him.”

Israel’s apostate religious leaders are outraged! They cannot stand the fact someone else is at the center of attention in Jerusalem. Crowds have not come to visit them or celebrate them, but rather have assembled to praise the Lord Jesus Christ! These unbelieving spiritual authorities brood and pout, as people have forgotten about them… for there is a more prominent Spiritual Teacher in their capital city! How these evil religious leaders have tried so hard to scheme to arrest and kill Him—to no avail. In the words of Paul, “For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth” (2 Corinthians 13:8). Regardless of what sinful man does to try and stop it, indeed, the truth of God’s Word will increase and prevail….