Category: works-religion

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing #5

Sunday, December 7, 2025

“For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:14-17 KJV).

The final verse of the classic Christmas carol highlights today’s Scripture.

“Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface,
Stamp Thine image in its place:
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in Thy love.
Let us Thee, though lost, regain,
Thee, the Life, the inner man:
O, to all Thyself impart,
Formed in each believing heart.
Hark! The herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King!”

Religion has done an excellent job (wrongly) teaching us that God likes to rehabilitate humans—that He wants to make us quit doing certain things (“fleshly”) and make us start doing other things (“churchy”). What a very shallow, and actually a false, perception. God wants to do much more than what we could ever do by ourselves.

For good works to reign in our lives, God has to kill us! As sinners, in Adam, we are dead in our trespasses and sins, no life in ourselves (see today’s Scripture). Nothing we can do in our own strength will ever change our (sinful) nature in Adam. However, God offers us death to Adam and a new identity through Christ at Calvary. When we trust that Jesus Christ died for our sins, in God’s mind, we died to sin, too. Christ did not simply die for us but as us. Romans chapters 5 through 8 describe the victory is in Christ, not in Adam or in ourselves. Success is by the power of the Holy Ghost working with the grace doctrines we study and believe, not in our struggles to do right. And so, “Christ [is] formed in [us]” (Galatians 4:19).

Something about which the angels cannot sing, but we can, should, and do! 🙂

Convenient Season #6

Thursday, November 6, 2025

“And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee” (Acts 24:25 KJV).

According to the Bible, when is the “convenient season?”

One religious teenager, a member of a “Christian” denomination, heard the Gospel of Grace—but did not believe it. For six months, he tarried… worrying about dying and going to Hell (fearing he would “fry like a sausage,” he later recounted). Finally, he trusted Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour. He later became a pastor, whom I met!

A 21-year-old lady once heard a few words of spiritual value from a mostly-ignorant preacher: he warned about God’s judgment coming on this evil world. Yet, he never actually gave her a clear Gospel message she could trust. She was left to dread the future! Recently, she told me how it took four more years before a Christian soul-winner would lead her to put her faith exclusively in the Lord Jesus’ finished crosswork (and stop depending on her water baptism!).

Only age six, a schoolboy asked a works-religion leader of the community (and clergyman of his denomination) what he had to do to go to Heaven. “Keep the commandments!,” that priest thundered. The young man spent another 27 years unsaved and confused in denominationalism until he heard a pure Gospel message (salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, without works). Speaking to me now as an 88-year-old man (55 years in Christ), he expressed concern as to how risky his life was, how close to Hell he came—nearly going the way his relatives had for centuries in the “family religion.”

True, as the old saying states, “Better late than never.” However, when dealing with soul salvation, we never really know precisely when “late” will turn into “too late!” Unfortunately, the vast majority of church members worldwide are still not hearing a clear Gospel message from the pulpits. They are leaving this world by as many as 100,000 to 150,000 every single day—religious, but as lost as lost can be. Where death finds them (in Adam), eternity shall keep them (in Adam); Hell and the Lake of Fire are their only fate, but it did not have to be this way. That was their choice….

Arrayed in Hypocrisy

Friday, October 31, 2025

“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?”

Possessed with Devils #25

Thursday, October 30, 2025

“And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them” (Matthew 4:24 KJV).

What does the Bible say about devil possession?

In prophecy, Satan uses evil spirits to corrupt Israel’s people and Israel’s Promised Land. Thus, these are “unclean spirits,” “foul spirits,” or “devils.” Remember, “the Jews require a sign” (1 Corinthians 1:22; cf. John 4:48). In God’s Word, healing the sick and casting out devils are two signs or indications the Lord Jesus Christ’s earthly kingdom is approaching (see Matthew 4:17,23,24—today’s Scripture; cf. Zechariah 13:2). In mystery (Paul’s epistles), however, God’s current relations with man, the battle has moved from Earth to Heaven, with emphasis on “spiritual wickedness in high [heavenly] places” (Ephesians 6:12). Thus, no devil possession is possible today, rendering exorcism unnecessary in our Dispensation of Grace. Still, unless we teach and believe sound Bible doctrine, works-religion and denominationalism will be Satan’s instruments to blind and pollute our minds and hearts (2 Corinthians 4:3,4; 2 Corinthians 11:3,4,13-15; 1 Timothy 4:1-5; 2 Timothy 2:26).

Finally, as for the terminology, we must set the record straight. Due to the influence of modern English versions (products of unbelief), “demon possession” and “demons” are used as supposedly “better alternatives” to “devil possession” and “devils.” This allegedly distinguishes between Satan (Devil) and his angelic employees (demons). However, our King James translators knew the difference between being possessed of devils (evil spirits) and being possessed of the Devil (Satan, the chief evil spirit). See Luke 22:3 and John 13:27, for example; though, differentiating between Satan and other evil spirits is generally immaterial because they all labor to oppose God’s works.

While “demon” is indeed a transliteration of the Greek “daimonion,” it poses two challenges for English readers. Firstly, “demon” does not contain the built-in clue as to its connection to “evil” (“devil” includes the very word “evil,” but “demon” is unclear). Secondly, the ancient Greeks used “demon” in both bad and good senses, evil spirits and good spirits—but “devil” is always bad. Modern English versions are ambiguous and therefore weak here. The Authorized Version King James Bible is superior, being more precise and, consequently, easier to read!

-FINIS!-

Possessed with Devils #22

Monday, October 27, 2025

“And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them” (Matthew 4:24 KJV).

What does the Bible say about devil possession?

A minister—one of Christendom’s “blind leaders of the blind”—shared online a prayer to recite to drive out evil spirits. This little manmade petition, unfortunately, has no Divine authority whatsoever because it is not the Bible rightly divided. Ironically, this “exorcist” gives Satan more influence by spreading his denominational error and spiritual ignorance. Paul’s epistles delineate what God is doing today, but that pastor never cited a single verse from Romans through Philemon. Unsurprisingly, he appealed to Matthew through John!

The resurrected, ascended, and glorified Lord Jesus Christ sent our Apostle Paul to us Gentiles to “open [our] eyes, and to turn [us] from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God” (Acts 26:16-18). If we do not walk according to that Dispensation of Grace given to Paul and given through Paul to us (Romans to Philemon; Ephesians 3:2), we lose the battle with Satan and fall prey to the “spiritual wickedness in high [heavenly] places” (see Ephesians 6:11-19). Indeed, Satan has ministers of righteousness—denominational preachers and teachers—who have led billions (!) astray in works-religion (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). These deceived souls are in “the snare [trap] of the devil… taken captive by him at his will” (2 Timothy 2:24-26). Grace, all that God can do for us through Christ’s finished crosswork on Calvary, has been ignored; man’s religious efforts (Law) and man’s “wisdom” (philosophy) are glorified in its place.

As per Pauline doctrine, no one today can be possessed of the Devil or devils, but we can be oppressed of the Devil and devils through the ministry of false teachers promoting bad conduct and bad doctrine (see 1 Corinthians 5:5; 1 Corinthians 7:5; 1 Corinthians 10:19-21; 1 Timothy 1:19,20; 1 Timothy 3:7; 1 Timothy 4:1-5; 1 Timothy 5:11-15; cf. Romans 16:20; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Ephesians 4:27). Satan will even use corrupt governmental leaders to hinder God’s work (see 1 Thessalonians 2:18; cf. Acts 17:5-9). Pride is of the Devil (1 Timothy 3:6), as is bitterness and unforgiveness (2 Corinthians 2:7-11). Indeed, Christendom is woefully (!) ignorant (!) of Satan’s activities….

I Just Wanted to Get Away! #23

Thursday, October 2, 2025

“And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself” (Genesis 3:10 KJV).

Will sinners “get away” from accountability before God?

Read 1 John 3:4: “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.” The word “transgress” literally means, “step across, exceed, or pass a boundary;” the Law of Moses says, “Do not cross,” and we cross. We do what God tells us not to do, we go where He commands us not to go, and we say what He orders us not to say. The Law condemns us as sinners, pronouncing us “guilty before God” (Romans 3:19,20; cf. Romans 7:7-13); it is therefore “weak through [our] flesh” (Romans 8:3). If God’s nation Israel could not keep the Law for 1,500 years, what chance do we have of faring any better? Remember, we are all sons and daughters of Adam!

Anyone is cursed if he or she does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do them (Galatians 3:10; cf. James 2:10). “But that no man is justified [declared right] in the sight of God, it is evident [clear, plain]: for, The just shall live by faith” (Galatians 3:11). Considering what the Scriptures indicate about our failure to measure up to the Law, we would be downright “foolish” (senseless, witless, unwise) to desire to be under the Law system (Galatians 3:1,3; Galatians 4:9,21). Howbeit, our tens of thousands of denominations are all predicated on some such performance-based acceptance system: “Do this, do that, do not do this, do not do that.” Billions of church members—including genuine Christians (!)—are in spiritual chains or shackles (legalism).

Individuals who insert the Law into their Christian (Grace) life and soul are “sowing [planting] to the flesh,” and they will “of the flesh reap corruption [destruction, decay, ruin of the Christian life]” (Galatians 6:8). This is the “wood, hay, stubble”—worthless, non-dispensational information—we are cautioned against placing into our soul in 1 Corinthians 3:9-15. To correct these blunders, the Judgment Seat of Christ will be held for us members of the Church the Body of Christ….

I Just Wanted to Get Away! #22

Wednesday, October 1, 2025

“And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself” (Genesis 3:10 KJV).

Will sinners “get away” from accountability before God?

Since Christ’s merits on Calvary have been imputed (reckoned) to their accounts, believers should not fear the penalty of sin (Hell and the Lake of Fire). Yet, if they fail to apply by faith the resources Father God gave them in Christ, they will be under the power of sin (not enjoying victorious Christian living). Such disruption of Christian growth and development is courtesy of false teachers, whose doctrine is worthless in God’s sight. The classic example of this is throwing away Grace and returning to the Law—as the Galatians.

Remember, the Law is an “all-or-nothing” system. “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written [Deuteronomy 27:26], Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith” (Galatians 3:10,11). “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). To introduce the Law system into the Grace life is to destroy the Grace life: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate [hinder] the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain [to no purpose]” (Galatians 2:20,21).

Teachers who place believers under Law today (when they are under Grace) emphasis human works (self-righteousness) at the expense of God’s righteousness: “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). Such false teachers, “whose end shall be according to their works,” will not “get away” from accountability before God….

I Just Wanted to Get Away! #21

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

“And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself” (Genesis 3:10 KJV).

Will sinners “get away” from accountability before God?

Barabbas was already incarcerated for serious crimes at the time of Jesus’ arrest. Every Passover, Pontius Pilate (Roman Governor of Judaea) customarily released a prisoner to appease the Jewish people. Israel’s religious leaders (representing their apostate nation) demanded Barabbas’ freedom. Therefore, Jesus would now face the death penalty intended for Barabbas—crucifixion, a method reserved for the worst offenders.

Matthew chapter 27: “[15] Now at that feast the governor was wont [accustomed] to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would. [16] And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas. [17] Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ? [18] For he knew that for envy they had delivered him. [19] When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him. [20] But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus. [21] The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you. They said, Barabbas. [22] Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified. [23] And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified…. [26] Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.” (For more details, read companion passages Mark 15:6-15, Luke 23:13-25, and John 18:38-40.)

These events sinful man meant for evil, God took them and made them into something good. Barabbas symbolized sinners. Instead of devising various schemes to try to avoid God’s judgment against our sin, we can be saved from our deserved fate by trusting Christ as our substitute….

I Just Wanted to Get Away! #20

Monday, September 29, 2025

“And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself” (Genesis 3:10 KJV).

Will sinners “get away” from accountability before God?

In Acts chapters 7–9, religious leader Saul of Tarsus was a Pharisee who hated Jesus’ name and tirelessly hunted believing Jews. Yet, Saul gave up depending on his “goodness” and trusted Christ’s righteousness (Philippians 3:3-9). As Paul the Apostle decades later, he writes of himself: “Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting” (1 Timothy 1:13-16).

The salvation or justification of Saul/Paul is a “pattern” of how God has dealt with Christ-rejecting sinners for 2,000 years now. Firstly, He has been “merciful” or compassionate, holding back the wrath we sinners deserve. Secondly, He has been “gracious” or generous, giving us the favor we sinners do not deserve. Thirdly, He has been “peaceful” or friendly, pausing the war we sinners deserve. For a moment, He has interrupted the prophetic program, “[that] which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21), that He may operate the mystery program, “[that] which was kept since the world began, but now is manifest [through the Pauline epistles, Romans to Philemon]” (Romans 16:25,26).

God has caused the nation Israel to temporarily fall, concluded all Jews and all Gentiles in unbelief, that He might have mercy on all nations without distinction (see Romans 11:11-14,30-32). What we need to do is the only thing we can do without doing anything: we need to believe on Christ’s finished crosswork as sufficient payment for our sins. Since the Lord Jesus was our substitute on Calvary so long ago, we now enjoy God’s blessings….

I Just Wanted to Get Away! #19

Sunday, September 28, 2025

“And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself” (Genesis 3:10 KJV).

Will sinners “get away” from accountability before God?

It is the good pleasure of the God of the Bible, the Creator God, the Lord Jesus Christ, to fill us with His life. After all, it is His purpose for the human species, which is separate and distinct from the animal kingdom. Yet, until we have a personal relationship with Him by faith in His finished crosswork as sufficient payment for our sins, we cannot experience this true life (eternal life).

His attitude toward mankind today is “grace and peace” (and so begins each of the 13 Pauline epistles, Romans to Philemon). No Divine wrath or Divine war has been declared on our world—yet. Mockers and skeptics have been granted a season of leniency, during which period they are free to spitefully wag their finger in God’s face and speak against Him without repercussion. “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily [quickly, swiftly], therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil” (Ecclesiastes 8:11).

“Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming [to judge and punish]? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation…. [Peter replies to them] The Lord is not slack [lazy, inattentive] concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance…. 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;…” (2 Peter 3:3,4,9,15).

“Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds:…” (Romans 2:4-6). May we not despise (hate, think lowly of) the riches of God’s goodness, forbearance, and lllllooooonnnnngggggsuffering….