Category: God’s will

Satan and Dispensationalism #9

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

“Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:1-4 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is one of the six key areas that Satan has found to be advantageous regarding confusing God’s people in this Dispensation of Grace, the Church the Body of Christ!

Satan wants ignorant Christians. After all, he can only rule over people who are unaware of what really matters. As one dear brother often says, “Ignorant brethren are the world’s largest denomination!” To add insult to injury, the exact six instances where Paul says not to be ignorant of some doctrine, they are the very doctrines of which Christendom is totally ignorant today! Awful! Shameful! Awful!

The third exhortation not to be ignorant is in today’s Scripture. Paul reminded the Corinthians to learn a tragic lesson from Israel’s history. God delivered her from Egyptian bondage (sin, Satan, and the world) to enjoy a new life in a new land, His Promised Land. Paul continued after today’s Scripture: “But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them…. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed…. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them did…. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured…. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples….”

There is still a satanic agenda today to distract us from our new life in Christ. Friends, let us ever be mindful of it. Israel abandoned Moses, God’s spokesman to her; Christendom forsook Paul, God’s spokesman to us. Like the Corinthians, they overlook Paul’s apostleship (2 Corinthians chapters 10-13), preferring pagan philosophy (1 Corinthians chapters 1-3) and devil worship (chapters 8-11). Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon, are largely ignored… thus, Christendom is largely ignorant!

Satan and Dispensationalism #7

Sunday, October 11, 2015

“Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles” (Romans 1:13 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is one of the six key areas that Satan has found to be advantageous regarding confusing God’s people in this Dispensation of Grace, the Church the Body of Christ!

Satan wants ignorant Christians. After all, he can only rule over people who are unaware of what really matters. As one dear brother often says, “Ignorant brethren are the world’s largest denomination!” To add insult to injury, the exact six instances where Paul says not to be ignorant of some doctrine, they are the very doctrines of which Christendom is totally ignorant today! Awful! Shameful! Awful!

The first exhortation not to be ignorant is in today’s Scripture. Satan is physically hindering Paul’s apostleship from impacting Gentile believers in Rome. While details are lacking, consider what Paul wrote to the Thessalonian believers, “Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us” (1 Thessalonians 2:18). Satan hindered Paul from visiting Thessalonica by using a corrupt local government that legally banned him and Silas from entering the city (Acts 17:1-9). A similar event may have repeatedly impeded Paul from reaching Rome in today’s Scripture. What we do know is Satan used hindrances to restrain the Apostle’s ministry. (Interestingly, Satan’s plan backfired! God had Paul write Rome instead, thus giving us a Bible book to learn from—that epistle to the Romans!!!!)

There is still a satanic agenda today to keep Christians from listening to the Apostle Paul. Friends, let us ever be mindful of it. Paul is not physically here to be physically hindered, but Satan has alternative schemes. There are plenty of ways to hide Jesus Christ’s heavenly ministry through Paul. How? The Devil’s religious system keeps people in the Old Testament, the Four Gospels, early Acts, and Hebrews through Revelation. They are so busy reading mail that is not to or about them, they have no time or energy to read what is written to and about them. Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon, are largely ignored… thus, Christendom is largely ignorant!

Satan and Dispensationalism #3

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:3,4 KJV).

Dispensational Bible study is the key to believing a clear Gospel message and understanding the Bible canon, so Satan seeks to hide or corrupt it, that he may keep the masses in his snare!

Recently, my 10-year-old niece told me of a somewhat troubling conversation she had with her teacher, an employee of a private “Christian” school. My niece knows the Gospel of the Grace of God by heart. Unlike many preachers, she can quote it with ease, “Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, He was buried, and He rose again the third day. 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.” When she asked her teacher, “What is the Gospel of the Grace of God?,” the teacher admitted she had no idea!!

It is sad to say, but I am afraid that the Gospel is hidden from lost people and a lot of “Christians” today as well! There are 40,000 different “Christian” denominations all preaching different Gospel messages. The dominant crowds are preaching: “Get water baptized and keep the commandments!,” “Ask Jesus into your heart!,” “Make Jesus Lord of your life!,” “Confess your sins and ask God to save you!,” “You must be born again!,” or “Repent and say the sinner’s prayer!”

The way Satan keeps lost people lost is to use Israel’s law-performance system (works-religion). Yes, he uses the Bible to deceive. Not only are these lost people blinded by sin, they are misguided when it comes to properly interpreting the Bible. They grab John 3:3, Acts 2:38, Romans 10:9-10, Mark 1:15, Matthew 19:17, James 2:24, Revelation 3:20, or Mark 16:16, as though these are verses written to and about our salvation. They are not!

If lost people want a clear dissertation of the Gospel of the Grace of God, they should read the first five chapters of the book of Romans. No clearer Gospel tract has ever been written to Gentiles in our Dispensation of Grace!

Satan and Dispensationalism #2

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

“…God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3,4 KJV).

Dispensational Bible study is the key to believing a clear Gospel message and understanding the Bible canon, so Satan seeks to hide or corrupt it, that he may keep the masses in his snare!

Friend, have you ever wondered about God’s will for your life? Now that you have read today’s Scripture, you need not search any longer. It discloses God’s will for non-Christians and Christians. The God of the Bible has done everything needed to save mankind from his sins. Why? He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). The God of the Bible became the God-Man, Jesus Christ, to shed His rich, royal blood to atone for every person’s sins. “Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time” (1 Timothy 2:6). He wants all people to be saved, that they not go to hell! Lost people need to trust Jesus Christ’s finished crosswork alone, that they go to heaven!

Verse 7 continues, “Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.” When was the “due time” for Jesus Christ’s crosswork to be “testified” as available to all people? It was Paul’s apostleship, Acts chapter 9 onward! This is the dispensational aspect of God’s will, the “coming unto the knowledge of the truth” that God wants for Christians. He wants them to recognize the special ministry and message the risen, ascended, and glorified Lord Jesus Christ gave Saul of Tarsus, the Apostle Paul. In Paul’s epistles, we find a clear Gospel message and the doctrine needed for a functional Christian life.

Satan obviously does not want God’s will fulfilled. So, his religious system confuses the various Gospel messages and divine instructions given throughout the Bible. This makes it nearly impossible for any lost person to become a Christian, and nearly impossible for a Christian to become a mature believer. Such people under his control are usually very resistant to hearing God’s truth!

Our latest Bible Q&A: “How long should I keep witnessing to the same person?”

Satan and Dispensationalism #1

Monday, October 5, 2015

“And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” (2 Timothy 2:24-26 KJV).

Dispensational Bible study is the key to believing a clear Gospel message and understanding the Bible canon, so Satan seeks to hide or corrupt it, that he may keep the masses in his snare!

Beloved, as grace believers, as Pauline dispensationalists, we have an awesome responsibility to teach God’s Word to all people, confused Christians and confused lost people. Satan has taken them captive, skillfully and tirelessly fighting to keep them imprisoned. In accordance with his will, he keeps them blinded. Lost people (religious and non-religious alike) have no idea about soul salvation and forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ. They are going to a devil’s hell forever. They need to hear a clear Gospel message that can save them! Denominational Christians are so focused on manmade theologies that their service is unacceptable and offensive to God. They are going to heaven, but have not a clue as to what the God of the universe is doing today. They are too busy working in religion to please God. They need to hear sound Bible study to stabilize their souls!

God did not create man to die and go to hell. God did not create Christians to grope about in spiritual ignorance. Alas, man dies and goes to hell, and Christians grope around in spiritual ignorance! How awful! They must “recover themselves” (today’s Scripture). Their minds and hearts must be corrected by divine truth. God has already revealed in His written Word, the answers they need to escape their dire situations. Whether they look in the Bible on their own, or we gently teach it to them, it is ultimately their responsibility to apply by faith the verses applicable to their circumstances. Lost people do not have to stay lost and go to hell. Denominational Christians do not have to stay confused and defeated. Oh, what good news right division literally brings!

The Carpenter from Nazareth (and Heaven) #10

Monday, September 28, 2015

“Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God” (Hebrews 3:1-4 KJV).

Have you ever stopped to consider why Jesus’ earthly trade was carpentry?

A very fascinating portrait has formed. The Lord Jesus’ foster father, Joseph, was a carpenter, and He followed him in the trade. His Heavenly Father, God, was also a Carpenter, and He followed Him in the “family business” also. Today’s Scripture declares Father God was building a house in His creation. Jesus was thrilled to work with His Heavenly Father!

Jesus had studied the “Old Testament” Scriptures to learn that Father God was forming a nation who would learn His Word and then take it to the nations. He also learned, however, that Israel had gotten lost along the way. A vain and corrupt religious system had ensnared her and drawn her away from God’s pure words. The Lord Jesus knew that He had to reteach Israel verses she should have learned and later shared with the nations. As it turned out, they were willing to hear Jesus as much as they were willing to hear Moses. As the years passed, Jesus came to understand that that house Father God was building also involved three iron spikes, a wooden cross, and His sinless shed blood. Israel had to be redeemed from her sinful nature and forgiven of behaviors.

After Jesus taught Israel advanced doctrine built on the “Old Testament” Scriptures, those words were recorded in Matthew through John. This teaching was further developed in early Acts and Hebrews through Revelation. Once our Dispensation of Grace ends, believing Israel is to remain faithful to that doctrine, that the Antichrist not deceive her during those last seven years (verses 5,6). And so, the Carpenter from heaven is there today, to one day come back and finish building His nation Israel! 🙂

The Thing Which is Good

Monday, September 7, 2015

“Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth” (Ephesians 4:28 KJV).

On this Labor Day, we talk about work, “the thing which is good.”

In this day and age of increasing “government assistance,” people are becoming less and less aware of our hard work being the Lord Jesus’ preferred method of the source of our incomes. While the physically and mentally disabled are obvious exceptions, the God of the Bible expects all of us to contribute labor in order to provide for ourselves. For children and young adults, even being a student in school is work enough!

Observe the doctrine being communicated in today’s Scripture. The grace life does not merely teach us to quit doing bad things, but it also instructs us to start doing good things (Titus 2:11,12). Once a thief trusts the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished crosswork as sufficient payment for his sins, then God expects that thief to quit stealing and find a job so he can provide for his needs!

The God of creation calls work “the thing which is good” (today’s Scripture). Work is not something to be avoided; it is something to be embraced for the Lord’s glory!

When the Lord Jesus Christ put the first man, Adam, on earth, that man had a divine commission. Adam was not to simply loaf around and do nothing: “And the LORD God took the man, and put him in the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it” (Genesis 2:15). Adam was to protect that garden, to till its ground, to prepare it for Jesus Christ to come down and dwell in with he and Eve (because of sin, that earthly kingdom over which Jesus Christ will rule is still awaiting fulfillment!).

Saints, may we work to provide for our families (1 Timothy 5:8), and may we work to help those who truly are needy (today’s Scripture). In the words of God the Holy Spirit, that is “good!” 🙂

Paul and Dispensationalism #13

Thursday, August 20, 2015

“And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 3:9 KJV).

What else can the Apostle Paul teach us about dispensational Bible study?

Previously, Paul explained why Jesus Christ commissioned him as our apostle: “[7] Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. [8] Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;” Continuing with today’s Scripture: “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.”

The risen, ascended, and glorified Lord Jesus Christ had information to tell all nations, information that He had not revealed during His earthly ministry. So, He took wretched Saul of Tarsus, leader of Israel’s apostasy and the world’s rebellion against Him, saved him by His mercy and grace in Acts chapter 9, and commissioned him to testify to all nations of the divine knowledge he had received and would receive later on. Firstly, Paul was to “preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.” This was spiritual wealth found in Christ, apart from Israel and her kingdom program, not spoken of in her Old Testament Scriptures. Secondly, Paul was to “make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery.” This secret (verse 6) is how believing Jews and believing Gentiles are saved into the Church the Body of Christ, apart from Israel and her prophetic program—Saul of Tarsus being first (1 Timothy 1:11-16).

Lost people today are to see us members of the Body of Christ (believing Jews and Gentiles harmoniously) living according to the grace doctrines revealed to Paul. Saints, our dearly beloved brother Paul has since moved on to heaven, but we are still here, and until Christ comes for us, let us, in word and deed, carry on the divinely-ordained ministry he left behind (2 Corinthians 5:14-21)! 🙂

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Was Luke a Jew or a Gentile?”

Paul and Dispensationalism #8

Saturday, August 15, 2015

“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:” (Romans 16:25,26 KJV).

What else can the Apostle Paul teach us about dispensational Bible study?

Indeed, 95 to 99 percent of professing “Christianity” is doctrinally weak. Most alleged “Christians” and most true Christians have an extremely feeble grasp of Scripture. This ignorance applies not only to church members but also to preachers and priests and theologians… the “blind” leading the “blind” (Matthew 15:14)! How did such a spiritual mess arise? Honestly, the “church” has focused on founding religious organizations and defending denominational tenets. There was no sound and proper Bible study. The Bible was merely scanned and appealing verses were chosen—that weak foundation produced the current frail, teetering structure.

More commentaries (further confusing them) have been read than verses in the Holy Bible! More time has been spent recounting worthless stories, telling jokes, singing and jumping, and re-teaching and re-teaching basic verses, than time spent preaching a clear Gospel message and teaching a profitable Bible lesson! More energy has been spent organizing weddings, baby showers, dances, food and clothing drives, and bingo nights than energy expended in planning Bible conferences and Bible camps! The average church almost entirely neglects the Bible, especially Paul’s epistles. No wonder the average local church is not “dying” but dead!

The professing “church” has utterly failed to grasp today’s Scripture. They usually cannot adequately delineate Paul’s Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:3-4—Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and He rose again the third day). They do not understand Paul’s special ministry, “the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery.” They do not know how those Pauline books fit with the overall Bible scheme. Basically, they have not been “stablished” (stabilized) and spiritually matured. Therefore, they are “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4:14). Such ignorance is the result of ignoring Pauline dispensationalism!

Paul and Dispensationalism #7

Friday, August 14, 2015

“Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;” (Titus 1:1-3 KJV).

What else can the Apostle Paul teach us about dispensational Bible study?

A certain body of divine truth applies today—“the Dispensation of the Grace of God” (Ephesians 3:2). Today’s Scripture calls it, “the faith of God’s elect” and “the truth which is after godliness.” If our lives are to be godly, we must have the doctrine that produces godlikeness. Paul says that he was made a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to reveal that doctrine to us. God Almighty Himself commanded that Saul of Tarsus be made the Apostle Paul. Through Paul’s writings, God has manifested the doctrine that will not only produce eternal life in heaven but eternal life right now on Earth!

God had promised a special eternal life before the world began. It would be His life manifested through the Church the Body of Christ (1 Timothy 3:16). However, God kept that secret for 4,000 years. When “due times” came, God revealed the secret to the Apostle Paul. All the world, through Israel’s fall, could access Him by faith in His Son’s finished crosswork! What was once limited to Israel (Isaiah 53:8; Matthew 20:28; Acts 5:31; et cetera), is now available to all nations—righteousness through Jesus Christ’s death for our sins, His burial, and His resurrection. This we learn only from Paul’s ministry!

“[3]…God our Saviour; [4] Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. [5] For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; [6] Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. [7] Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity” (1 Timothy 2:3-7).