Category: evil world system

The Crux of God’s Eternal Purpose

Friday, January 27, 2012

“And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven” (Colossians 1:20 KJV).

God the Father has one grand purpose for creation—to make His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Head of the governments of heaven and earth (Ephesians 1:9,10). But, the Bible teaches that an angelic rebellion, led by Lucifer (Satan), sought to usurp Jesus Christ’s headship in heaven (Isaiah 14:12-14; Ezekiel 28:12-18). Once Satan enticed mankind to sin and cooperate with his policy of evil, that rebellion then infiltrated earth (Genesis 3:1-24).

Today, the governments that God created in heaven and earth are in rebellion. Satan has spoiled what was created “by” and “for” the Lord Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:16,17; cf. 2 Corinthians 4:3,4; Ephesians 2:2; Ephesians 6:12). How will God reconcile unto Himself the governments of heaven and earth? How will Jesus Christ eternally subvert Satan’s strongholds in those two realms? Today’s Scripture provides the answer.

Using Christ’s shed blood, God is currently forming a heavenly people for His name, the Church the Body of Christ (Ephesians 1:7; Ephesians 2:13; Colossians 1:14). In eternity future, He will use this entity—us!—to restore His authority in the heavens. At Christ’s Second Coming, God will restore His earthly people, the nation Israel, forgive them of their sins through Christ’s shed blood (Acts 3:18; Hebrews 9:11-15; 1 Peter 1:18,19), and use redeemed Israel to reclaim His authority in the earth.

Indeed, the very thing at which Satan thought he defeated God—Calvary’s cross—is that which God will use to permanently conquer Satan’s policy of evil. Christ’s finished crosswork on Calvary is the crux of God’s plans for eternity future: everything that God will accomplish in the ages to come hinges on Jesus Christ’s shed blood. In order to destabilize Satan’s power in heaven and earth, God must deal first with the sin issue in both realms, and Christ’s blood does just that in both realms. Behold the wisdom of our God!

Oh, by the way, interestingly, crux is Latin for cross….

God’s Heavenly Kingdom (Finally) Established

Thursday, January 26, 2012

“And [God the Father] hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6,7 KJV).

Before Jesus Christ will return at His Second Coming to establish His earthly kingdom, He will found another kingdom—His heavenly kingdom!

Genesis 1:1 reads, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Colossians 1:16 continues: “For by him [Jesus Christ] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, dominions, principalities, or powers: all things were created by him and for him.” God created heaven and earth, but He also made governments to manage those two realms for His glory. Unfortunately, Satan has caused “spiritual wickedness in high places [heaven]” (Ephesians 6:12) and he is “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4): the Bible documents God’s plan to restore the governments of heaven and earth unto Himself.

Before the seven-year Tribulation begins (and before Christ’s Second Coming to establish His earthly kingdom), the Lord Jesus will rapture us, the members of the Church that is His Body, from earth, secretly taking us to heaven. As the seven-year Tribulation is unfolding on earth, we will be in heaven, appearing before Jesus Christ at the Judgment Seat of Christ to receive our orders for eternity.

At the midpoint of the future Tribulation (three-and-one-half years into it), the Bible explains: “There was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon [Satan]; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven” (Revelation 12:7,8). Why will that happen? At that point, God will have thrown Satan and his evil angels out of their “place” in heaven to install us there (note “places” in today’s Scripture)!

Once God has subdued the heavenly places using us, He will come to earth to end the seven-year Tribulation and establish His kingdom here on earth with Israel, thus defeating Satan in both realms!

No Blood Indicates No Faith #2

Thursday, January 19, 2012

“By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh” (Hebrews 11:4 KJV).

God instructed Cain and Abel to bring blood sacrifices. However, only Abel obeyed God because he alone had faith. Cain lacked faith, so he completely ignored God’s Word. Cain wanted to do what Cain wanted to do. This is typical human nature, and it has not changed one wit. Man is naturally sinful in that he seeks autonomy—to be his own god and to do what he wants to do!

“Cain… was of that wicked one [Satan!]… his own works were evil, and his brother’s [Abel’s] righteous” (1 John 3:12). Now, Cain’s vegetation offering did not look evil—it was just “fruit of the ground” (Genesis 4:3). Yet, despite its innocent appearance, it was evil and God rejected it. How was it evil? God wanted blood sacrifices, not crops (Hebrews 12:24)! Cain displeased God because he had no faith (Hebrews 11:6).

Now, apply that scenario to today. Billions of church members are doing everything they can to work for heaven. Like Cain, they completely ignore God’s Word when it says their “good” works are actually “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6) and “dung” (Philippians 4:8). They give faithfully, pray daily, attend church weekly, help the poor, clean the church building, sing in the choir, and so on. Sadly, this is vain activity, for God never commanded them to work for heaven!

In this the Dispensation of Grace, God is freely offering His grace, love, mercy, forgiveness, salvation, acceptance, fellowship, and righteousness in the Person of His Son Jesus Christ. “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him [Jesus Christ] that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Romans 4:5).

Salvation is so simple, yet religion complicates it with our works. We sinners cannot work for salvation. The Bible says the only way to heaven, and everlasting salvation, is to trust in what Jesus Christ already did for you, not what you can do for Him.

Whom Doth Thou Really Follow? #3

Sunday, January 15, 2012

“Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses’ disciples. We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is” (John 9:28,29 KJV).

In the context of today’s Scripture, Jesus heals a blind man. After he appears before the unbelieving Pharisees, they summon his parents to confirm his former blindness (verses 18-21). His parents fear being cast out of the synagogue, so they avoid admitting Jesus Christ healed him (verses 21-23). Contrariwise, their son boldly holds to God’s truth, refusing Israel’s vain religion. Thus, the Pharisees “reviled [insulted] him” (today’s Scripture). How we Pauline dispensationalists face the same persecution today!

Most Jews—especially Israel’s religious leaders—refused to trust in Jesus as their Messiah. Any Jew who embraced Jesus as Messiah was alienated by his friends and family, for the Jews who followed Jesus Christ went counter to Israel’s apostate religious system. The parents of the man in today’s Scripture feared losing their popularity, so they did not confess Christ. Eventually, the Pharisees cast out the man for following Jesus (verse 34).

Similarly, if you have trusted exclusively in Christ Jesus, and you are not relying on your good works for salvation, you are going contrary to the prevalent works-religion system of our day. The lost world avoids you because you are God’s child. Moreover, if you study and believe the King James Bible “rightly divided,” as 2 Timothy 2:15 teaches, you become even less popular. The denominationalists and religionists do not want you either!

We follow our Apostle Paul as he follows Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1). Since most of Christendom abhors dispensational Bible study, they keep their distance from us. The denominationalists and religionists treat us the same way the wicked Pharisees treated the Jewish believers—criticize and ostracize! Like the Pharisees, they reject sound Bible doctrine and keep their tradition. Moreover, the non-religious lost world rejects us too, for we trust in Jesus Christ while they trust in their worthless idols.

Let us continue following Paul as he follows Christ, even as they criticize and ostracize! 🙂

Cunningly Devised Fables

Sunday, January 8, 2012

“For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty” (2 Peter 1:16 KJV).

Satan has been working for thousands of years. Spiritual warfare between good and evil begins in the denominational leadership. Ungodly, lost church leaders with religious clout entice the masses to follow them… to hell! Jesus explained, “Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch” (Matthew 15:14).

Religious authorities concoct nonsensical stories that play on gullible people’s emotions in order to gain followers and their savings. Last May, Harold Camping was the latest “date setter” for the end of the world. For years individuals have been calculating elaborate timelines that document the end of world, only to be mocked when the dates fail to come to pass. How people ridicule God because of these fools, too! But, the “cunningly devised fables” grow more and more far-fetched.

Tales of tumors miraculously falling from infirm bodies, Mary appearing in treetops, stigmata seen on hands and feet, weeping statues, “Holy Ghost” encounters, relics, and grotto shrines are but a few of religion’s “cunningly devised fables” used to deceive sincere souls. These “doctrines of devils” distract people from the truth of God’s Word, and because these stories are so preposterous, they cause people to doubt the Bible’s testimony (1 Timothy 4:1-3; cf. Ephesians 4:14; 2 Peter 2:1-3).

Beloved, the Bible warns us about people “beguiling [tricking] us with enticing [nice-sounding] words” (Colossians 2:4). The story appears to be godly, but do not be fooled. Compare it with the Bible rightly divided.

In today’s Scripture, the Apostle Peter reassures his Jewish readers that he did not fabricate the account of Jesus Christ appearing in all His glory on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-8; Luke 9:28-36). Unlike the “signs, miracles, and wonders” of religion, it really did happen—visibly, physically, and literally.

As long as we believe the King James Bible rightly divided, we too “have not followed cunningly devised fables.”

The LORD is Exalted Far Above All gods #1

Friday, January 6, 2012

“For thou, LORD, art high above all the earth: thou art exalted far above all gods” (Psalm 97:9 KJV).

Saints, we serve the Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator God of heaven and earth. Today’s Scripture declares the praises of JEHOVAH [“the LORD”], the one true God. The world’s idols—wealth, drugs, sex, statues, paintings, and wafer-gods—do not compare!

During her centuries of Egyptian bondage, Israel was surrounded by the worship of 2,000 pagan gods and goddesses. Consequently, Jews forgot JEHOVAH, the God of their fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But, JEHOVAH proved His superiority over those pagan deities by destroying Egypt with plagues of creatures like lice, frogs, and flies—the very things Egyptians worshipped (Exodus chapters 7-11)! Pagan gods Baal (1 Kings 18:21-40) and Dagon (1 Samuel 5:1-9) were no match for JEHOVAH either.

In 1 Corinthians 8:4, the Apostle Paul discussed eating foods offered to idols: “…We know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.” Pagan idols are dead and worthless—“nothing.” Thus, they cannot harm Christians or food. Paul told the pagan Ephesians, worshippers of the goddess Diana, “they be no gods, which are made with hands” (Acts 19:26).

Psalm 115:4-8 explains: “Their [the heathens’/Gentiles’] idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: they have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: they have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat” (cf. Deuteronomy 4:28; Psalm 135:15-18; Isaiah 37:19; Isaiah 44:9,10; Jeremiah 10:5). Pagan gods can do nothing for you because they can do nothing at all.

“For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens” (Psalm 96:4,5). Who is the LORD/JEHOVAH, the God exalted far above all gods? “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him [Jesus Christ], and given him a name which is above every name” (Philippians 2:9).

Hast Thou Chosen the Way of Truth? #1

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

“I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me” (Psalm 119:30 KJV).

When God created mankind, He sought not to make robots. God granted mankind free will—mankind could believe and obey God’s Word, or he could reject it in unbelief and “do his own thing.”

For instance, in the beginning, God gave mankind only two commandments:

  1. “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth” (Genesis 1:28).
  2. “Of every tree of the garden [of Eden] thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:16,17).

Adam and Eve obeyed commandment #1… sort of. They did procreate, but they did not “subdue the earth” because they utterly broke commandment #2. Instead of ruling earth for God’s glory, mankind willfully sided with Satan, and disobeyed God by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Thus, mankind lost its God-given dominion, and Satan—“the god of this world”—still rules earth today (Matthew 4:8,9; Luke 4:5-7; 2 Corinthians 4:4).

God strictly charged Adam, who then relayed those commandments to Eve. The Bible says Eve ate the forbidden fruit because she was “deceived;” Adam, however, was “not deceived” (1 Timothy 2:12-15). When Satan confronted Eve in Genesis 3:1-5, Eve could have refused the devil’s enticement. She could have sought Adam’s help, but she preferred Satan’s lies, and ate the forbidden fruit. Adam, who knew better but willfully rejected “the way of truth,” he gave in and ate to please his wife (Genesis 3:6)!

God wants faithful servants, not mindless robots. Hast thou chosen “the way of truth,” as the psalmist in today’s Scripture declares he has done? Have you followed and believed God’s Word “rightly divided?” Or, like Adam and Eve, have you embraced “the way of error,” Satan’s lies?

Another Year for Grace Living

Sunday, January 1, 2012

“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: rooted and built in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6,7 KJV)

Dear saints, having just exited 2011 we have crossed into 2012, another year for grace living! This is not another year for us to live our lives for Christ, but rather another year to let Christ live His life in and through us as we apply by faith the grace doctrines in Paul’s 13 epistles, Romans through Philemon. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

Our Father God saved us, dearly beloved brethren, so we could, in eternity, be His vessels in the heavenly places. For now, however, He has left us here on earth so we can be His vessels of grace to the lost, hopeless, dying people of this “present evil world” (Galatians 1:4). (This ministry on earth is preparing us for our ministry to come in heaven’s glory!)

Today’s Scripture is one of the key verses of grace living. How did we receive Christ Jesus? By faith, according to Galatians 3:2,24,26 and Ephesians 2:8,9. Our Christian lives will operate in the same way it started—faith in Christ’s performance, not our performance. As we place our faith in sound Bible doctrine, especially the doctrine in Paul’s epistles (God’s Word to us), the indwelling Holy Spirit will transform our lives for His glory (Romans 12:1,2; 1 Thessalonians 2:13). God will use that sound doctrine working in us to forever impact our world (1 Thessalonians 1:5-10).

Beloved, this year, study sound (dispensational) Bible doctrine and by faith in that doctrine, allow God to work in you, to change you and impact those around you for His glory. Praise the Lord—we have been given another year for grace living!

*You may read our 2011/2012 Bible study here or watch the Bible study video here.

No Thanks, God! #2

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

“Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” (Romans 2:4 KJV).

Once Adam sinned, God could have immediately annihilated the human race. All these millennia later, God is still tolerating man’s wickedness. Myriads of scoffers today shake their fists at God and curse His name, and yet the heavens are silent. Why?

Fire and brimstone do not rain down from heaven, as during Sodom and Gomorrah’s destruction (Genesis 19:24,25). No flood consumes our planet, like in Noah’s day (Genesis 6:13). Today, the earth does not open and swallow the infidels, as it did Korah and his men, and God’s fire does not consume men, as it did 250 other blasphemers (Numbers 16:30-35). God does not strike unbelievers dead, as He did King Herod (Acts 12:21-23), or blind them as He did Elymas (Acts 13:9-11). Why does God not exact vengeance today as He did in time past?

Today, we live in the Dispensation of the Grace of God. This dispensational change allows mankind to receive the riches of God’s “forbearance” and “longsuffering.” God is patient and is restraining Himself from pouring out His wrath so more people can be saved before His wrath is executed. “The Lord is not slack [lazy, undependable] 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”(2 Peter 3:9)

Ecclesiastes 8:11 says: “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” In due time, God will punish the lost world, just not today in our dispensation. Since the Lord does not immediately execute wrath, people take advantage of Him. God is extending His grace and peace to us undeserving sinners, but as today’s Scripture says, people hate God’s goodness and grace and reject it.

Do not toss away the gift of God’s grace and salvation through Jesus Christ. Accept that gift by faith and escape that wrath to come!

No Thanks, God! #1

Monday, December 26, 2011

“Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” (Romans 2:4 KJV).

As the Christmas Season wanes, unwanted gifts that cannot be refunded are being discarded. Imagine all the time, money, and energy spent purchasing those gifts for their ungrateful recipients. There is a worse tragedy! We, sinful humanity, deserve coal, the riches of God’s wrath (Romans 2:5,6,8,9); thankfully, we have been given the riches of God’s grace (Ephesians 1:7). Predictably, there are unappreciative individuals who have already eagerly tossed out something worth far more than material possessions—God’s grace.

A noted outspoken atheist, who recently “met his Maker,” described prayer as “meaningless.” During his last year alive, even while cancer-stricken, he had a hardened heart toward God. As far as I know, he died without Jesus Christ. That man, like billions of others before, beheld God’s grace, and haughtily declared, “No thanks! I do not need You, God!” Today’s Scripture describes the attitude of most people: “[They] despise [hate!] the riches of [God’s] goodness and forbearance and longsuffering.” Jesus Christ’s sacrifice for them and God’s love and grace are worthless to them.

In Israel’s program under the Mosaic Law, God utterly destroyed such people. But, for nearly 2,000 years, God’s wrath has been in abeyance. Today, in our Dispensation of Grace, God is “not imputing the world’s trespasses unto it” (2 Corinthians 5:18,19). That will change…

Once our Dispensation of Grace expires, during Daniel’s 70th week, the seven-year Tribulation, God will righteously judge this rebellious world in His wrath (Psalm 2:1-5; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-4; et al.). God will finally retaliate and take vengeance (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9). The antichrist will deceive those who “received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12).

Do not toss away the gift of God’s grace and salvation through Jesus Christ. Accept that gift by faith and escape that wrath to come!