Category: works-religion

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….

Heir by Position, Pauper by Practice #14

Sunday, January 18, 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!

It is no secret that Christendom is unhealthily obsessed with Matthew through John. While these Four Gospel Records are the inspired and infallible Word of God, confused souls fail to realize Christ’s earthly ministry is still Judaism and not Christianity. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are under the Law of Moses (Matthew 8:4; Mark 1:44; Luke 5:14; cf. Luke 1:59; Luke 2:21-24; cf. Matthew 5:17-19). “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,…” (Galatians 4:4). Also, Christ’s earthly ministry was restricted to Israel because the Old Testament covenants were given exclusively to the Israelites (Romans 9:4,5; cf. Ephesians 2:11,12). “But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24; cf. Matthew 10:5-7; Romans 15:8).

Also, it is quite obvious that Christendom is exceedingly fixated on early Acts and “Pentecostal power,” more passages that are the infallible and inspired Word of God but nevertheless do not describe what the Lord is doing right now. Israel is still dominant in the opening chapters of Acts (see Acts 1:8; Acts 2:14,22,36; Acts 3:12,24-26; Acts 4:8,10; Acts 5:31; Acts 7:2), with her fall occurring in Acts chapter 7 once her leaders stoned the Prophet Stephen and thus blasphemed against the Holy Ghost (Matthew 12:31,32; Mark 3:28-30). Salvation and blessing go to the nations starting with Paul’s salvation and commissioning to Gentiles in chapter 9 of Acts.

Serving as “the apostle of the Gentiles” (Romans 11:13; cf. Acts 26:17; Romans 15:16; 1 Timothy 2:7; 2 Timothy 1:11), Paul writes inspired and infallible words in Romans through Philemon to identify true spirituality today. “If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant” (1 Corinthians 14:37,38).

May we not be like most, willingly ignorant of Pauline revelation….

Heir by Position, Pauper by Practice #13

Saturday, January 17, 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!

Observe again the prophetic program: “Whom [Jesus Christ] the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began…. Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities” (Acts 3:21,25,26). Peter’s sermon here draws on Genesis 12:1-3, the Abrahamic Covenant, or how God will save and bless the nations (world, Gentiles) through Israel’s rise to kingdom glory (cf. Isaiah 60:1-3; Zechariah 8:20-23; Matthew 28:18-20).

Since we can locate Bible verses that teach national Israel has a privileged position or favored standing before God, it is assumed that they still have that situation and it is thus thought that we need to bless Israel for God to bless us. Such is Bible ignorance, for the prophetic program has now given way to the mystery program: “I say then, Have they [Israel] stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them” (Romans 11:11-14). Currently, the salvation and blessing of God come to the nations/Gentiles or world through Paul’s ministry because of Israel’s temporary fall.

Indeed, we are not Israel, we have not replaced Israel, and we therefore are not under Israel’s Law system….

Heir by Position, Pauper by Practice #12

Friday, January 16, 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!

Read Genesis 2:16,17 and Genesis 3:1-13. Adam and Eve, our first parents, operated outside of the sphere of life their Creator God had planned for them. Instead of living according to His work (Grace), they made their own life with their works (Law). They ate the forbidden fruit, lost fellowship with Him and with each other, and then tried to cover up their sin with feeble religious efforts and blame shifting. Read Genesis 12:1-3, Genesis 15:1-6, Genesis 16:1-16, Genesis 17:1-27, and Genesis 21:1-5. Abraham and Sarah connived to produce a son (Ishmael, flesh) as opposed to depending on God’s work (miracle son, Isaac, and the resulting nation Israel). Hundreds of years later, Israel at Mount Sinai believed they could make themselves God people by obeying 613 rules and regulations (the Law of Moses): “All that the LORD hath spoken we will do” (Exodus 19:8). Here are three examples in prophecy of sinners preferring Law to Grace. Move over to mystery (God’s current program). Recall how we have the grace standard of Romans ignored and legalistic Galatianism entering.

Whether Adam and Eve at the Fall, or Abraham with Ishmael, or Israel at Sinai, or the Galatians (or even the Corinthians), man is using the energy of his flesh to try to live Christ’s life for Him. Though God in His goodness offers them spiritual riches (forgiveness, sanctification, eternal life, redemption, and so on), they keep leaning on spiritual poverty (resources in Adam) to make themselves contrary to God’s will for them. Mark it well: God can fully use us only if He renders us dead to, or separated from, Adam (thereby making us spiritual winners and heirs by position in Christ). We become spiritual losers and paupers by practice when we draw on Adamic resources instead of walking by faith in our new identity in Christ. The way we have the clearest understanding of whom we are in Christ is to see whom we are not….