Category: False Teaching

Revealed Unto Babes

Saturday, July 23, 2016

“In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Luke 10:21 KJV).

What unflattering words for Bible “scholars” everywhere!

Once, I attended a funeral where a religious leader—educated in seminary—read today’s Scripture before all the mourners. I was amazed! After the service, I politely repeated it to him (implying the verse fit him perfectly!).

Notice these phrases I extracted from a theology book: “Great Bible scholars who have spent their lives in the study of the Greek language tell us that this phrase should read….” “Again we look to the Greek scholars, men who have spent their lives in studying the language in which the New Testament was written. One of the greatest Greek scholars of all time declares that the context here demands… the phrase should read….”

The above author, educated in Bible College, was trained to quote the “scholars.” Unfortunately, Scripture means nothing to them unless the other “scholars” approve. If the King James Bible and its underlying Greek Textus Receptus does not fit their pro-Roman-Catholic agenda, they replace it with some inferior “Minority Reading” (very few New Testament Greek manuscripts in agreement). Furthermore, Greek literacy alone does not mean one is qualified for discerning Bible truths! One particular Greek “scholar” dominated New Testament thinking during the latter half of the 20th century—he never once claimed personal faith in Jesus Christ! His damnable “contributions” remain today in the modern Greek New Testaments and dozens upon dozens of modern English versions that shallow Christians tote everywhere!

When the Lord Jesus selected apostles, He did not visit the synagogues—worldly education (unbelief) was worshipped there. Rather, He went to the shores to find uneducated fishermen. “Education” later called those dear fishermen “unlearned and ignorant men” (Acts 4:13). Indeed, dear friends, God’s wisdom and man’s wisdom never agree. Today, read the first three chapters of First Corinthians. Man in his own wisdom will never understand God’s wisdom. However, those who submit to the Holy Spirit will see exciting truths unparalleled! 🙂

When the Land Vomited (Thrice)

Thursday, July 21, 2016

“Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants” (Leviticus 18:24,25 KJV).

The land has vomited twice; it will again!

Leviticus chapter 18 is JEHOVAH God commanding Israel through Moses not to participate in the various graphic activities of the heathen in the Promised Land. He is bringing the Jews into the land that the Gentiles have defiled with child sacrifices, incest, homosexuality, bestiality (sex with animals), adultery, and so on. God is evicting the evil Canaanites so that His people inherit the land that belongs to Him. The Jews are to value and obey His Word, lest the land “vomit” them out as well!

Verses 26-30: “[26] Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you: [27] (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;) [28] That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you. [29] For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people. [30] Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.”

Unfortunately, Israel never heeded the warnings. She became increasingly idolatrous in the following centuries. With the deaths of Moses and Joshua, Israel sank spiritually and morally. As God promised, the Promised Land did eventually “vomit” out Israel. The Assyrian and Babylonian armies came and took the Jews into foreign lands as prisoners of war; the Gentiles took over the land of Palestine again. One day, however, the Promised Land will “vomit” out the Gentiles, and God will bring Israel back into it forever!

Bible Q&A #285: “Ephesians 3:15—Who are God’s family in heaven and on earth?”

Light and Understanding

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

“The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple” (Psalm 119:130 KJV).

Behold, light and understanding are in the Word of God rightly divided!

Today’s Scripture is so simple that even a small child can grasp it. Unfortunately, many seminary-educated preachers, many “scholarly” persons, and many religious leaders could not comprehend that verse even if their lives depended on it! They have been so “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4:14)—their minds scrambled and their hearts hardened. When the spiritual light of God’s Word shines, they hide behind an intellectual or religious argument, lest the light expose them and convert them from their wayward path!

Still, despite all the willful ignorance described above, there are a handful of genuine souls. They are really trying to find the truth; they are waiting for some Bible-believing Christian to help them. Dear brethren, dearly beloved in the Lord, we should not be lackadaisical. There are some very confused people out there seeking answers; they need the light of the Gospel of Christ to shine on their hearts so they can be saved unto eternal life. There are some very confused Christians out there; they need the light of the Message of Grace to shine on their hearts so they can learn sound Bible doctrine. Let us not sit around waiting for some other person to do it. We should get out and do it. Win souls to Jesus Christ, and edify Christian souls to His glory! Go! Go! Go!

Some have no interest whatsoever in learning the truths of God’s Word rightly divided. But, there are others who are praying for God to enlighten them. We need to be ready to reach them whenever they request our assistance. Let us study and be prepared to answer their questions! In this world of increasing darkness and confusion, God’s Word rightly divided is a beacon of understanding. It shines ever so brightly. Let us be “mirrors,” reflecting that light so all can see and come to Christ Jesus! The fruit in eternity will be so much more exciting than we could possibly imagine here! 🙂

Busy with Idols

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

“Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number” (Jeremiah 2:32 KJV).

Why did Israel forget about JEHOVAH God?

A minister wrote many decades ago: “The only way to stay alive today is to run—even in the supermarket. If you’re not careful, someone will run a grocery-cart right over you if you stop moving!” Friends, we live in a much busier world. What would that dear brother say about today’s world if he were not enjoying heaven right now?

Our highways and interstates abound with people in quite a hurry. With speeds exceeding high, so are tempers! Road rage is a common problem; people just cannot get out of the way quickly enough, and they cannot travel quickly enough even if they manage to get from behind those travelling reasonable speeds! Just how many of these busy people give God even one minute of their time? He has given them so much—oxygen, food, water, shelter, life, and so on. What have they given Him? Only when they need Him to do something for them, when they are in a tight spot and need help, then they think about Him, call on Him, and ask Him for deliverance. Sound familiar?

The context of today’s Scripture says of preoccupied, idolatrous Israel: “[27] Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us. [28] But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah…. [32]… my people have forgotten me days without number.”

Frankly, even people today are too busy with idols—self, money, education, religion, work, sex, entertainment, and so on—to think about the Lord Jesus Christ. What a sad reality, friends, what a sad reality indeed! As ancient Israel did, so many people today have forgotten all about the one true God. May we not be among them!

Forgiven for Christ’s Sake #7

Sunday, July 17, 2016

“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Ephesians 4:32 KJV).

What is true forgiveness?

At a Bible conference, I overheard a man talking with one of my pastor friends. Steeped in denominationalism, he was chiefly confused about whether God had forgiven him. He struggled with the so-called “Lord’s Prayer” (“Our Father” Prayer). Specifically, Matthew chapter 6: “[14] For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: [15] But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” The poor man needed to “rightly divide the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). The “Our Father” Prayer was spoken to Israel (Matthew 15:24)—not us Gentiles (Matthew 10:5-7)!

God’s spokesman to us, the Apostle Paul, on this side of the Cross, tells us God has forgiven us all our sins. We do not have to beg or wonder! In Christ, forgiveness is total, free, and forever. He forgave us because of what Jesus Christ did at Calvary, not because of our religious performance (today’s Scripture). We are already forgiven in Christ. As God forgave us, we forgive others. Lost people will have their sins taken care of at two places—the cross of Christ if they trust Christ before physical death, or eternal hellfire if they do not trust Christ before physical death.

One of Satan’s schemes to destroy the local assembly is when Christians do not forgive each other as God for Christ’s sake has (past tense) forgiven them. Second Corinthians chapter 2 warns about bitterness: “[10] To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; [11] Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.”

Forgiveness is not pretending like nothing happened. You have been wronged, and God punished Jesus Christ for that sin. Forgiveness is sending the shame, guilt, and pain to Jesus Christ’s cross (where God dealt with our sins). We need not keep dredging up the past, beloved. We learn from our mistakes, and are thankful Jesus Christ has already provided our forgiveness forever! 🙂

Penance in Eden

Sunday, July 10, 2016

“And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden” (Genesis 3:7,8 KJV).

Itchy, itchy, itchy!

Friend, have you ever picked figs? Their leaves are prickly, and can make you itch! As I recently picked figs, I constantly thought on Genesis chapter 3, when the parents of the human race sinned against a holy God and attempted to cover their nakedness. What did they use to clothe their bare skin? According to today’s Scripture, they grabbed prickly fig leaves! They preferred this—suffering in uncomfortable clothes—to coming to God and admit their failure. Human nature is prideful; it has never changed in all these years.

While not explicitly stated in the Bible, perhaps Adam and Eve used fig leaves to make themselves suffer, possibly attempting to make God feel sorry for them. After all, some religious people make themselves suffer so as to appease some deity. They have the twisted idea that they can suffer enough for their sin and “God” will be happy with them. It is called “penance.” They are to give up pleasures and recite complicated prayers. They wear various torture bracelets on their fingers or arms and torture rings around their legs. They may don itchy hair shirts or pants. They whip themselves with leather straps. Every drop of blood they make themselves shed is assumed to make God just a tad happier with them. Allegedly, the more they suffer, the “holier” they become, and that much closer to heaven!

Beloved, on Calvary’s cross, the Lord Jesus cried out, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). We have no reason to suffer for our sins because Jesus already did. Still, if we want to suffer for our sins, God will grant us our wish. He has prepared a lake of fire and brimstone in which unredeemed souls will suffer forever. Something far worse than itchy fig leaves and hair shirts!

Remember, the online grace Bible conference runs until Thursday! http://understandgrace.com/2016-summer-family-bible-conference/

Created for God’s Glory

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

“Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee” (Ezekiel 28:15 KJV).

What can today’s Scripture teach us?

Scanning “Christian” television, I saw one preacher answering viewer-submitted questions. One inquiry concerned the origin of Satan’s great power. The warped preacher responded, “Satan worked his way up to the powerful role he has. God never gives anything free!” Of course, he never actually took his Bible and/or gave verse references—there are no such Bible verses! He was merely speculating and had no business talking about such matters.

Dear friends, Lucifer was created “perfect” from the moment of his creation (today’s Scripture). As the anointed cherub that covered, decorated, and protected God’s throne, he was “full of wisdom and perfect in beauty” (verses 11-19). Lucifer did not have to “work his way up.” Rather than lead all of creation in worship of the Lord Jesus Christ, he wanted praise and worship all to himself. Lucifer loved himself: pride was his downfall (1 Timothy 3:6). Actually, Lucifer worked his way down and became Satan (meaning Adversary)! Lucifer was not content in functioning in the capacity God had given him, so he fell “as lightning fall from heaven” (Luke 10:18). Adam too was given a job, to rule Earth for God’s glory (Genesis 1:26,27). Yet, Adam abandoned that position and followed Satan’s policy of evil. Thus, mankind has no relationship with God today.

The preacher who said God gives nothing free, what a liar. He knows nothing about the riches of God’s grace to us in Christ, nothing of “being justified freely [without cost to us] by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24). Just as Lucifer did not work his way into functioning for God’s glory, we cannot work our way into heaven. God offers us soul salvation unto eternal life (justification) apart from any works of any kind (water baptism, confession of sins, commandment keeping, church membership, et cetera). We need to come to Jesus Christ by simple faith in Him alone, relying entirely upon Him exclusively (and not upon Him and our religious works). We will be thus created for God’s glory! 🙂

Liberated to Serve

Monday, July 4, 2016

“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13 KJV).

Today, as we in the United States celebrate the 240th anniversary of our nation’s independence, we invite our Christian brethren worldwide to rejoice with us concerning our freedom in Jesus Christ.

When we proclaim Romans 6:14—“Ye are not under the law, but under grace”—people tend to assume “loose living.” Does “grace living” really mean we can now live any way we want? Lest anyone be misled in that regard, God the Holy Spirit moved the Apostle Paul to write in the next verse, “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid [May God never let that happen!]” (Romans 6:15). Grace living is not Law-keeping, but it certainly is not Law-breaking either.

God still cares how we live, albeit He is not operating the “weak and beggarly” system of “bondage” (Law) that He once did with Israel (Galatians 4:9). God proved to the entire world that since Israel could not keep His commandments perfectly, no other sons of Adam (the Gentiles) could either: “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them [Israel] who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world [Gentiles] may become guilty before God” (Romans 3:19).

We sinners cannot keep the Law. However, God in His grace provided us a way to escape that condemnation by sending Jesus Christ to offer Himself on Calvary’s cruel cross to pay for our sins. By simple faith in Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection as the fully-satisfying payment for our sins, we can now be “made the righteousness of God in [Christ]” (2 Corinthians 5:21). We can be delivered from the penalty of sin (hell and the lake of fire) and the power of sin (flesh-walking).

Why are we Christians free? To selfishly live any way we want? NO! Today’s Scripture says we are liberated to now serve others, especially our Christian brethren, just as Jesus Christ selflessly served His Father and selflessly died on our behalf. That is grace living!!!!

Please see our 2011 Fourth of July Bible study “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land,” which can be watched here or read here.

For the Ungodly and For Sinners

Sunday, July 3, 2016

“For when were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6-8 KJV).

Did Christ die for the godly? No. Did Christ die for the righteous? No.

How human nature is stubborn! Pride operated first in Lucifer, and so he became Satan. Likewise, pride operated in Adam and mankind fell into sin. Friend, you stay in the ministry just a short time, and you will meet some very prideful people. The most prideful people in all the world are those in religion. Regardless of religion and/or denomination, you will always find someone who is “good enough,” “diligent enough,” “faithful enough.” In their minds, they “never sin” and they “do enough good.”

You can have numerous pieces of evidence to the contrary, and some people will deny all wrongdoing whatsoever. They will shield themselves and others from blame. They will blame-shift, and point out other people’s sins before their own. In short, they are in denial. People who do not realize they are lost and going to hell, will not be saved and go to heaven. They are ungodly. They are sinners. That is why Christ died for them! They needed Him!

Why, oh why, would God ever want anything to do with us, the human race, when we are so willfully unbelieving and disobedient to Him? We will never fully understand it, but God’s grace can plummet the depths that sin reaches. “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Romans 5:20b). While mankind was sinning and rubbing his sin in God’s face, God sent His Son to die for those sins (today’s Scripture). Would you die for your enemy? Jesus Christ did (for all 10 billion-plus!). Again, this truth just completely goes over our heads. Our minds are too small to fathom it.

They can continue to deny, ridicule, and laugh at it, but the finished crosswork of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only reason why God still tolerates this world!

Ungracious “Grace” Leaders

Saturday, July 2, 2016

“For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw disciples after them” (Acts 20:29,30 KJV).

Beware of the Devil’s advocates lurking within the Grace Movement!

Recently, I had an enjoyable phone conversation with a new pastor friend. During our three hours of long-distance fellowship, we gave each other our testimonies and a brief background of our ministries. He explained to me how some of our Bible resources (written studies and videos) had recently helped him avoid a most erroneous and confusing “cell group” within the Grace Movement. Being new to the Message of Grace, he was eager to hear from us God’s pure Word rightly divided. Thankfully, he was rescued from a corrupt system we know all too well ourselves!!! (He has now rescued others!!)

He explained to me how some “grace pastor” had tried to force him to accept his warped version of so-called “grace teaching.” My pastor friend expressed how uncomfortable he was as this pastor “lorded” over him. The perverted pastor, during this time of “instruction,” would never let my pastor friend interject more than a few words. My pastor friend, without having time to read the verse for himself, would be asked quickly, “Understand…? Good. Next verse!” That pastor “lording” over him had an agenda. It was not to teach Bible but to teach theology. The will of the pastor disagreeing with the theology, was overlooked. He was being trained to—without question—believe what the “grace preacher” said the verses said rather than believe what the verses said.

Dear friends, I have issued warnings here about various subtle (sneaky) heresies floating amongst and within “grace” circles. It is not grievous to me to remind you again. Teachings that claim to be “dispensational teachings” but, when closely examined, are anything but—unapologetically avoid them (Romans 16:17,18)! These Bible corrupters are marked by their very haughty and aggressive—certainly un-Christian—attitude. Furthermore, please be vigilant about how pastors and teachers handle Paul’s “Acts” ministry and “Acts” epistles. Especially within the Grace Movement, there are “wolves in sheep’s clothing” (today’s Scripture). Not all “grace ministries” are created equal—not all are really “grace ministries” either!

Brethren, if you value our grace ministry, you may always donate to us securely at: https://www.paypal.me/ShawnBrasseaux. Thanks!