Category: works-religion

Zealously Affected #5

Monday, February 23, 2026

“They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them. But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you” (Galatians 4:17,18 KJV).

Let us see if we can identify and comprehend the dangers of relying on emotions….

Today’s Scripture can be elaborated thusly. False teachers manipulated (“zealously affected…”) the Galatians’ emotions. Hence, the Galatians gladly received their false doctrine (“…not well”). Consequently, as per Satan’s design, these Galatians were influenced to become isolated (“excluded”) from the Lord’s ministry through Paul. These unstable Christians therefore began to feel just as passionate about defending and supporting those false teachers and their Law-based error (“that ye might affect them”) as the Galatians had been eager about the Grace truths they heard from Paul in-person (“zealously affected… when I am present with you”). Paul did not disapprove of excitement per se, for our enthusiasm about the truth should never cease (“it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing”). The problem was letting emotions get out of hand to the point of delusion or clouded judgment (accepting the erroneous notion that works-religion, or Law, was more advantageous to sinners than was Grace).

Remember, we have had a completed Bible canon for 20 centuries, but whatever we have learned (or have chosen to ignore altogether!) from the 13 Pauline epistles, we have gradually turned away from those Grace principles to let the Law creep in. Moreover, our silliness with emotionalism has resulted in our zeal for denominational error but aggression toward dispensational truth; the blunder of Galatianism still appeals to the lust of our flesh. No one is sinless, yet everyone in Christendom prefers a system (the Law) that constantly points out sin. What they need to do is use the Law lawfully: learn once and for all how Christ died to put away their sins once and for all (grace), and they (!) need (!) to (!) get (!) on (!) with (!) grace (!) living (!) (Christ living in and through them as they walk by faith in an intelligent understanding of His words to them, regardless of what they “feel” or do not “feel”).

Whether they realize it or not, these modern “Galatians” advocate for their own misery and defeat….

Something in Which to Glory!

Wednesday, February 18, 2026

“As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (Galatians 6:12-14 KJV).

In what shall we glory? About what shall we boast? In what shall we find value?

Religion produces people who enjoy bragging all about their “dedication to God.” “Look what I did—the ceremonies in which I have participated, the many prayers I faithfully recited daily, how much I put in the collection plate, see how many pleasures I gave up to please God! Come, see how much I love Him!” Dear friends, the Apostle Paul found great value in something—but that something was not what he did. All that human flesh can accomplish pales in comparison to the work in today’s Scripture.

As Lent begins, the time when religionists temporarily (a mere 40 days) relinquish some pleasant food or activity, let us remember that our performance is often non-performance. Once we place ourselves on that treadmill of “do, do, do,” we are guaranteed to fail at some point. Human flesh is simply too weak to maintain 100 percent—that is sin! Even concerning one rule, we cannot keep it perfectly. We mess up eventually.

If ever we believe that our puny works are worth bragging about, let us remember the words of the Apostle Paul in today’s Scripture. While some boast in their religiosity (in the passage, the Judaizers applauding their rite of physical circumcision), and such denominationalists today urge us to obey their church’s instructions so they too may boast in our ability, let us eschew such foolishness. Being imperfect, all their works do not measure up to Christ’s finished crosswork. At Calvary, we find the only sacrifice that will ever please the God of the Bible. If we must boast, let us brag that He did what we could never, ever do!

See our archived Bible Q&A: “Should Christians observe Lent?”

Eternal Insurance

Sunday, February 15, 2026

“…Christ died for our sins… he was buried, and… he rose again the third day…” (1 Corinthians 15:3,4 KJV).

Earthly life is fraught with difficulties, evils, and tragedies, so it should never be taken for granted; it can be easily lost. Above all, eternal life is what matters most… for that is certain.

Many years ago, when I was ministering in nursing homes, I happened upon an elderly man who was wheelchair-bound and sitting by himself in a hallway. Once I asked him if he had “eternal assurance of going to Heaven,” he replied, “Yes, I have insurance.” The poor soul was either hard-of-hearing or deaf, so he misunderstood. I had to explain to him I was referring to the Gospel of Grace. In a sense, however, eternal assurance of going to Heaven is insurance—eternal insurance, means of guaranteeing against loss or harm to the soul in Hell and the Lake of Fire. We have a sin problem, which is why the Lord Jesus Christ had to die and shed His sinless blood. There simply was no other way… not rites, not rituals, not ceremonies, not rules, and not regulations. We were—and still are—totally helpless.

Frankly, just a few hours ago before midnight, a tornado ripped through my neighborhood and over my house. I heard sounds and saw sights I will never, ever forget; no hurricane I have experienced even compares. Extremely strong winds and heavy rain tore across my backyard as I was on my back porch trying to hurry inside. Floodlights were shining while I watched trees and tree limbs be violently tossed back and forth. I heard the distinct noise of wood splitting and breaking. The majority of two tall pine trees in my yard came crashing down literally just steps away from my house! No one was injured or killed, but both front and back yards resemble a warzone. There is some structural damage to the house and major damage to surrounding sheds. All can be replaced, as we have insurance. Our souls cannot be replaced, of course, which is why they are eternally insured by faith alone in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection as sufficient payment for our sins (cf. today’s Scripture).

Dear friend, I strongly encourage you to have this eternal insurance—this eternal life—by placing your faith in Christ alone today while there is still time to apply for coverage.

Heir by Position, Pauper by Practice #23

Tuesday, January 27, 2026

“Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:7 KJV).

Saints, we in Christ are spiritual winners and heirs by position, but we can choose to be spiritual losers and paupers by practice!

Courtesy of spiritual immaturity—people not letting the Bible define its own vocabulary—there is great misunderstanding about adoption in the Holy Scriptures. Adoption here is not taking a child from his biological family and legally placing him into a foster family: it is not God removing a lost person from Adam and putting him into Christ. Rather, adoption in the Bible is the father declaring his biological son to be mature, full-grown, or an adult (see Galatians 4:1-7). It is someone who has already been trained in the curriculum and can therefore make wise decisions without having to be led by the hand like a little child (cf. Galatians 3:22-26).

Father God has pronounced us Christians as His adopted sons positionally, for the indwelling Holy Spirit enlightens and empowers us to work in the family business of exalting Jesus Christ (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:5-7). He would like to pronounce us believers as His adopted sons practically, though this cannot come to fruition unless we choose to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:19)—and this is mature Grace, not immature Law (Galatians 5:16-26). Alas, like Christendom now, the Galatian saints did not walk according to Romans truth. The Christian life will not operate on the basis of ignorance because it cannot operate on the basis of ignorance. We must have a clear understanding of grace living, Romans to Philemon—and precious, precious, precious few souls ever do (this is not God’s fault!).

Thankfully, at the resurrection or redemption of our body, God will ultimately declare us His sons practically (the “adoption” of Romans 8:23 and Ephesians 1:5). Again, adoption is not simply being the sons of God by position, but by practice too. Here is spiritual maturity, being acknowledged as full-grown sons. We do not have to wait until Heaven to grow up: we can grow up now! This is what the Galatians needed to understand in today’s Scripture, and it is what we need to learn even now….

Heir by Position, Pauper by Practice #22

Monday, January 26, 2026

“Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:7 KJV).

Saints, we in Christ are spiritual winners and heirs by position, but we can choose to be spiritual losers and paupers by practice!

Re-read today’s Scripture and context (Galatians 3:22–4:11). Though the Law of Moses had been given to Israel, it was designed to prove to every Jew and every Gentile that man is sinful and therefore can merit nothing but curses from a holy, righteous God (cf. Galatians 3:10-14). Failing to keep the Law perfectly, sinners would be forced to realize they could gain acceptance before God only by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who did obey the Law completely (Romans 3:19–5:11). The Law pointed sinners to that Saviour of sinners, so, once they trusted Him, their performance in religion would remain insignificant and thus still shut out of the conversation forever.

Believers would then move to spiritual maturity, just as a biological father declares his son to be a man/adult who could be his successor in the family estate (the “adoption” of Romans 8:15-17,23; Galatians 4:5-7; and Ephesians 1:3-6). Therefore, to return to the Law is like going back to spiritual kindergarten—condemned to re-learn the basics like little children starting school at the very beginning (cf. Galatians 4:8-11,19,21). “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage…. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law” (Galatians 5:1,18).

Once Satan corrupts us with bad information, he is victorious because God cannot use us to our full potential! We did not become heirs of God by our works, so it is impossible to lose that position by failing to work. Rather than being servants (who lack the son’s rights and privileges), we believers in Christ are sons of God (today’s Scripture). What belongs to Father God is actually ours through the mediatorship of Christ (the Father’s Primary Heir!). Does it make sense for the heir of the father’s grand estate to live in poverty and squalor, eking out an existence with feeble efforts performed by dirty hands, so pitifully ignorant of whom he really is?! No, it is spiritual madness, craziness….

Heir by Position, Pauper by Practice #21

Sunday, January 25, 2026

“Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:7 KJV).

Saints, we in Christ are spiritual winners and heirs by position, but we can choose to be spiritual losers and paupers by practice!

Instead of resorting to the lame excuse, “This verse does not mean what it says,” we can simply leave it in its dispensational context. Just because we do not see a passage fulfilled today does not prove it to be false; it merely means the verses are not to or about us. We need to be scriptural and dispensational, especially keeping Law/Moses and Grace/Paul separate!

The Devil labors in religion because it is all about self—“I have done this, I have done that” (cf. Exodus 19:5,8). Church members seldom differentiate between this and Christianity, and such bragging demonstrates and reinforces those misunderstandings. “That no flesh should glory in his [God’s] presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:29-31). If we boast, let us brag about what the Lord Jesus Christ is for us and what HE did for us!

Romans is the standard of grace/Christian living. We have total forgiveness of all sins in Christ by grace (Romans 4:6-9 cf. Colossians 2:13) and therefore have joy (Romans 5:11), but religion questions this. Guilt weighs us down, and we stumble over 1 John 1:9 and Israel’s Law system (cf. Galatians 4:15,21)! We hesitate to believe we have complete, permanent, unconditional fellowship with Father God through Christ (1 Corinthians 1:8,9). Forgetting our victory in Christ in Romans chapters 6 and 8, we suppose we must keep laws to make God happy with us! Under the Law, we do not have liberty to do right but bondage to keep doing wrong: self-pity and misery consume us! We believe we cannot help but sin, so sin conquers us just as it did poor, hopelessly defeated Paul in Romans 7:7-25! We wonder if God loves us, doubting He has actually made us accepted in His beloved Son, Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:6). We are not only paupers in religion, but also prisoners….

Heir by Position, Pauper by Practice #20

Saturday, January 24, 2026

“Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:7 KJV).

Saints, we in Christ are spiritual winners and heirs by position, but we can choose to be spiritual losers and paupers by practice!

For many years now, an old adage has circulated amongst dispensational Bible students: “People spiritualize and tell spiritual lies because they do not have spiritual eyes.” One “spiritualizes” verses by thinking they cannot and should not be taken at face-value because they have some “spiritual/figurative/hidden” meaning. This is exactly how false teachers can contradict the Bible and avoid most (or all) suspicion coming from the trusting, vulnerable souls in the pews. They use manmade tradition to explain away whatever Bible verses conflict with their theological system. Minds and hearts are filled with utter nonsense instead of the living words of the living God! Something like this happened in Corinth and in Galatia.

“Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). The Isthmian Games were similar to the Olympics, and the Corinthians of southern Greece were familiar with both. Runners and boxers/wrestlers carefully trained with specialized diets and exercise plans, aiming for targets and finish lines. Likewise, Paul was “temperate” (practiced self-control), otherwise he would be a “castaway” (his Christian service rejected/unapproved in God’s sight). The Apostle encouraged the Corinthians to follow his example, for (as 1 Corinthians shows) they were thinking poorly and acting improperly.

Chapter 10 of 1 Corinthians itemizes how Christians even now can repeat ancient Israel’s sins by aligning with this present evil world (see verses 1-14). We have overcome sin in Christ, but Satan would have us believe otherwise to reduce us to spiritual “losership” on a daily basis….

Heir by Position, Pauper by Practice #19

Friday, January 23, 2026

“Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:7 KJV).

Saints, we in Christ are spiritual winners and heirs by position, but we can choose to be spiritual losers and paupers by practice!

Consider these warnings. “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple [naïve, gullible]” (Romans 16:17,18). “For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed [be careful, exercise caution] how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:9-11).

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled [tricked] Eve through his subtilty [sneakiness, slyness], so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him…. 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 11:3,4,13-15).

“And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest [corrupt, distort the meaning of], as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:15,16).

Beloved, let us beware of these false teachers, especially those who quote the Scriptures but do not “rightly divide” them….

Heir by Position, Pauper by Practice #18

Thursday, January 22, 2026

“Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:7 KJV).

Saints, we in Christ are spiritual winners and heirs by position, but we can choose to be spiritual losers and paupers by practice!

Colossians 2:10 pronounces, “And ye are complete in him [Jesus Christ]….” “Complete” means “lacking nothing, crammed to the full.” Such is our identity in Christ and entirely because of Christ. “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). This is our spiritual wealth in Christ, that of Ephesians 1:3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:….” One of the dominant themes of Ephesians (advanced form of doctrine, building on elementary Romans) is “riches” (see Ephesians 1:7,18; Ephesians 2:4,7; Ephesians 3:8,16). Therefore, Satan seeks to reduce us to mere paupers!

After laying out Colossians 2:6,7—victorious Christian living—the Holy Spirit inserts a word of caution in verse 8. “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” We should “watch out, be careful,” for Satan our adversary (enemy) will use whatever or whomever is necessary to draw us away from Christ (just as booty or treasure is carried off from a plundered building or town). Remember the Galatians’ move from the riches of grace to spiritual pauperism, “weak [inability] and beggarly [poverty]” works-religion (Galatians 4:9)!

Like in New Testament times, the Devil’s program is still extremely (!) lethal (!) in destroying Christian lives via “philosophy” (love of man’s wisdom), “vain deceit” (empty/worthless lies), “the tradition of men” (manmade ideas and practices passed down from generation to generation, which customs compete with and therefore distract from the Bible’s supreme authority), and “the rudiments of the world” (basic/shallow religious/philosophical/speculative systems, world religions). “And this I say, lest any man should beguile [trick, charm] you with enticing [appealing, tempting, attractive] words” (Colossians 2:4).

Such “enticing”—albeit deceptive—words have filled church history for 2,000 years now….

Heir by Position, Pauper by Practice #15

Monday, January 19, 2026

“Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:7 KJV).

Saints, we in Christ are spiritual winners and heirs by position, but we can choose to be spiritual losers and paupers by practice!

Romans is the most basic grace Bible Book: “For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me” (Romans 1:11,12). The Book of Romans “establishes” us, firmly fixes our feet in grace truth.

The final three verses of Romans are: “Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen” (Romans 16:25-27). Paul praises Father God who is able to “stablish” (stabilize) us, to prevent us from swaying or drifting spiritually. How is this spiritual stability achieved? Three items are given in that doxology.

Firstly, God will “stablish” (stabilize) us according to Paul’s Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:3,4), as found in the Book of Romans. This is how the Christian life begins. Secondly, God will “stablish” (stabilize) us according to the mystery/secret preaching of Jesus Christ, as made known in Paul’s epistles of Romans through Philemon. Thirdly, God will “stablish” (stabilize) us according to the Scriptures of the prophets, or the whole Bible (Genesis to Revelation) in light of Pauline information. Most professing Christians—and even most genuine believers—have no such grounding. Actually, they are those poor souls of Ephesians 4:14, “…children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;….”

Pauline dispensational Bible study is how we know precisely what God wants us to know and how we do exactly what He wants us to do….