Category: lost souls

One Mediator #9

Sunday, April 21, 2024

“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;” (1 Timothy 2:5 KJV).

According to Sacred Scripture, the Holy Bible, how many mediators are there between God and men?

It is as plain and simple as English can be. We do not need to attend seminary (Bible cemetery!) and study foreign languages for 10 years to understand today’s Scripture: Jesus Christ alone is the one mediator between God and men. As works-religion Israel must learn, “And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man [Jesus Christ!], after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;…” (Hebrews 10:11,12).

Long ago, a little girl enrolled in a religious school reported to her mother how a Roman Catholic nun that day had given the class a lesson on prayer and mediatorship. The nun instructed these children (under age 10) how to pray. With all heads bowed and all eyes closed, that nun led these little children in prayer to ask “Jesus” for candy. When everyone finished praying, the nun ordered them to lift their heads and open their eyes. In utter disappointment, the youngsters noticed there was no candy on their desktops! The nun guided the children to again bow their heads, close their eyes, and pray for candy—except now they would pray to “the Virgin Mary.” After they begged for Mary’s intercession, they were thoroughly amazed to find candy on their desktops. In these dear little impressionable minds, and upon their naïve hearts, an indelible mark was made: for the rest of their lives, they would always remember how Mary provided what Jesus cannot (or will not)!

Yet, that is not all. The little girl revealed something disturbing to her mother (a woman with whom I talked). In class, this clever and curious student had peeked during the Mary prayer whereas her classmates had their eyes shut. She had seen the nun’s helpers quietly running around the classroom with bags of candy and placing these treats! Beloved, this kind of dishonesty abounds in religion, people who will deceive anyone and everyone so as to preserve their denomination or theological system. Beware of them!

One Mediator #8

Saturday, April 20, 2024

“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;” (1 Timothy 2:5 KJV).

According to Sacred Scripture, the Holy Bible, how many mediators are there between God and men?

Just as the Book of Hebrews declares, Israel must learn how the Old Covenant of Law (including its Levitical priesthood) will give way to the New Covenant (and its Melchisedecian priesthood of Jesus Christ). “But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises” (Hebrews 8:6). “And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance” (Hebrews 9:15). “And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel” (Hebrews 12:24).

John the Apostle added, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate [intercessor] with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:…” (1 John 2:1). Christ’s shed blood that will ratify the New Covenant at His Second Coming, is the same shed blood that allows us in the Dispensation of Grace to come before Father God (see today’s Scripture, plus verses 6 and 7).

Nevertheless, countless intermediary beings or inanimate things are presumed to play some role in men’s fellowship with God. Whether “Mother Mary” (the so-called “co-mediatrix and co-redemptrix”), or angels, or departed saints in Heaven, or sacraments, or priesthoods, someone or something is being used as a vessel, channel, or vehicle to “get closer to God,” to elicit blessings or answers to prayer from Him. Frankly, these are nothing more than Satan’s policy of evil sidetracking hearts and minds away from the Lord Jesus Christ. These “other mediators” serve no purpose whatsoever—save to blind the minds of them which believe not, to hide the Gospel of the Grace of God from Hell-bound sinners, that they stay out of God’s will of being saved through Jesus Christ’s mediatorship (see 2 Corinthians 4:3,4).

Let us summarize and conclude this devotionals arc….

Two Sons and Two Fathers

Thursday, April 4, 2024

“And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas:” (Luke 23:18 KJV).

One son will be liberated to live, and the other Son will be sentenced to die!

At the time of Christ’s trial, Barabbas is a prisoner (Matthew 27:16). Barabbas is a murderer, a robber, and guilty of “insurrection,” or rebelling against the government (Mark 15:7; Luke 23:18,19; John 18:40).

It is Passover. Roman governor Pontius Pilate has a custom that, at the feast, he releases a prisoner, whomever the people desire (Matthew 27:15; Mark 15:6). “But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas. Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified” (Matthew 27:20-22).

Israel’s chief priests, rulers, and common people all demand Christ’s crucifixion and Barabbas’ release, so Pilate gives the sentence (Luke 23:23-25). Guilty Barabbas is set free to live, and innocent Jesus Christ is condemned to be crucified. While Barabbas’ involvement in the matter seems insignificant upon first glance, God included it in His written Word because to provide us with an amazing illustration!

“Barabbas” means “son of the father.” Barabbas is a criminal, and he represents sinful, rebellious mankind who is worthy of death. He is bound by sin, and faces eternal death. Spiritually, sinful mankind is the son of Satan—man is of his father the devil (John 8:44). Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, God, “knew no sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21), but took upon Himself our sins and was punished in our place.

Innocent Jesus Christ took the place of guilty Barabbas, which actually represented Christ taking the place of the whole world, suffering God’s wrath on our behalf! “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust…” (1 Peter 3:18). Thus, through Christ’s finished crosswork, we sinful sons of Adam (and Satan) can be freed from sin, and we can become the righteous sons of God.

The Price of Christ #1

Tuesday, April 2, 2024

“And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver” (Matthew 26:15 KJV).

How much is Jesus Christ worth in the eyes of lost man?

Let us read today’s Scripture within its context: “Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him” (Matthew 26:14-16).

“Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood. And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; and gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me” (Matthew 27:3-10).

The 30 pieces of silver was enough to buy a field; it was an enormous sum of money. The King James Bible does not specify what types of coins the priests paid Judas, but the “30 pieces of silver” is estimated to be the equivalent of three or four months’ wages. According to the Mosaic Law, the price of a slave was “thirty shekels of silver” (Exodus 21:32). In the eyes of lost mankind, the Lord of glory, Jesus Christ, was worth nothing more than a slave!

To Spite the LORD! #6

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

“Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments” (Exodus 7:11 KJV).

Is it really wise for us to spite the LORD? In the grand scheme of things, will He or we lose?

The Book of Exodus opens with an extremely intense spiritual battle Satan is waging with the LORD God. It is a complex conflict, abounding with vindictiveness and counterfeits at the beginning, but moving closer and closer to war’s end both the victor and the loser become clearer and clearer to us. There was spite and an imitation might, but only one won in that day and only that one was right. Thousands of years later after this situation, we even now can make a simple application.

If we wish to waste our time and energy being dead in our trespasses and sins, refusing (as lost people) to trust the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour (the Gospel of the Grace of God of 1 Corinthians 15:3,4), or (as Christians) rejecting His life as manifested through grace principles (Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon), we have on both counts been given liberty (freedom to choose). Overall, though, it is we who will lose, for we are contributing to our own misery, confusion, dissatisfaction, and spiritual loss.

Indeed, we can copy the life of Christ, but only so far—until reality hits us that we have aligned with fakery. Yea, we can fool ourselves into believing we are invincible, self-sufficient, our own authority, our own god. We can pretend like our false theological system is correct, our “scholarship” is beyond all doubt, and our religious leaders would never lie to us; but we would be just as mistaken as the Egyptians were in Moses’ day. Echoing Pharaoh of old, we can request “one more night with the frogs,” too stubborn to humble ourselves before LORD and too eager to remain in our pathetic lot. The blame falls squarely on us, and us alone.

“Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?” (1 Samuel 6:6).

To Spite the LORD! #5

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

“Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments” (Exodus 7:11 KJV).

Is it really wise for us to spite the LORD? In the grand scheme of things, will He or we lose?

Although the magicians of Egypt twice copied the LORD with the transformation of a rod into a snake, the LORD’S rod ate the magicians’ rods (Exodus 7:10-12). Once the first plague fell because of the LORD, the magicians were able to duplicate it but not reverse it (change the blood back into water); moreover, when their people required potable water, the magicians could not provide (Exodus 7:19-25)! By the time the second plague arrived, the magicians could also produce frogs but could not remove them; only the LORD could take them away (Exodus 8:5-15)!

As touching the third pestilence, the magicians could not copy the lice, but they did admit it was God’s work that could not be overcome (Exodus 8:16-19). According to the record of Scripture, from henceforth, the magicians made no more attempts to intervene—unable to counterfeit and still powerless to reverse anything. They do not appear in the case of flies the fourth judgment (Exodus 8:20-32), or the murrain or infectious disease the fifth punishment (Exodus 9:1-7). Now, the LORD God begins sparing Israel and judges Egypt only (Exodus 9:4). Again, the magicians cannot re-direct the punishment from their own people toward Israel.

With the sixth plague, the magicians show up in the Scriptures: they too are suffering from the blains, boils, or blisters, and cannot stand before Moses (Exodus 9:8-12). Some Egyptians are actually beginning to heed the LORD through Moses at this point (Exodus 9:20). The seventh judgment is hail and fire, reserved for Egyptians and their crops, whereas Israel is safe (Exodus 9:18-26). No magicians could help Pharaoh here either (Exodus 9:27-35)! With the locusts, the eighth plague, only the LORD could take them away (Exodus 10:12-20). By the time of the ninth judgment, the darkness that could be felt, Egypt was afflicted while Israel had light (Exodus 10:21-23). Once God struck Egypt with the tenth and final plague, the death of the firstborn, the magicians could raise no one from the dead (Exodus 12:29,30).

Let us summarize and conclude this devotionals arc….

To Spite the LORD! #4

Monday, February 26, 2024

“Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments” (Exodus 7:11 KJV).

Is it really wise for us to spite the LORD? In the grand scheme of things, will He or we lose?

God’s second judgment on Egypt: “And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt. And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt. And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt” (Exodus 8:5-7). As with the rods transformed into serpents, and the first plague (blood turned into water), the magicians of Egypt imitated the LORD. Think of all those disgusting frogs overrunning the land (verses 8-14)!

Now, watch carefully as touching the third pestilence: “And the LORD said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And they did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man, and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not: so there were lice upon man, and upon beast” (Exodus 8:16-18). “But they could not!” Verse 19 is especially astounding: “Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.” Perhaps Pharaoh executed these men because of their “blasphemous” admission!

The magicians of Egypt also could not duplicate plagues four through 10—flies, murrain (infectious disease), blains (blisters or boils), hail and fire, locusts, darkness, and death of the firstborn (chapters 8–12). In fact, “And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boil was upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians” (Exodus 9:11). Egypt’s religious leaders are unable to save it from the LORD’S unmitigated fury….

To Spite the LORD! #3

Sunday, February 25, 2024

“Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments” (Exodus 7:11 KJV).

Is it really wise for us to spite the LORD? In the grand scheme of things, will He or we lose?

Egypt’s magicians used occultic (satanic) power to prove they could match the LORD God. “See, Moses and Aaron, our deities are equally mighty. Whatever your ‘God’ can do, they can do and even outdo!” This is actually not as clever as it first appears. For example, re-read Exodus 7:10-12 (today’s Scripture): “And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.”

Initially, it really looked like the God of Israel was inferior to whatever or whomever Egypt was worshipping. At least two snakes were produced to contend with the LORD’S solitary serpent. However, the LORD’S rod ate the Egyptians’ rods—but Pharaoh and his servants were unimpressed, so Israel was not freed. Once the first plague was meted out, Egypt’s bodies of water—streams, rivers, ponds, pools, and so on—were blood. Water, especially the Nile River (Egypt’s primary water source), had been worshipped as a god. Now, it was contaminated because of the LORD God.

“And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments: and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them; as the LORD had said. And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to this also. And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river” (Exodus 7:21-24).

The magicians added to their people’s misery with water so filthy and odors so foul….

To Spite the LORD! #2

Saturday, February 24, 2024

“Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments” (Exodus 7:11 KJV).

Is it really wise for us to spite the LORD? In the grand scheme of things, will He or we lose?

Pharaoh and the other Egyptians viewed themselves as superior to the Israelites. After all, the Jews were their slaves, and Pharaoh himself was believed to be the Egyptian god Horus reincarnated in human flesh. Who were Moses and Aaron compared to this mighty king of Egypt? Who was this “LORD God of Israel” who challenged his authority? With a heart lifted up with pride, the king of Egypt was not the least bit intimidated. “As yet exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou wilt not let them go?” (Exodus 9:17). “And shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land: for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them. So didst thou get thee a name, as it is this day” (Nehemiah 9:10).

The king of Egypt and his magicians were drawing on Satan’s power (see today’s Scripture). Since they had given themselves over to the Devil, to do his work and entertain his thoughts, they were not about to hearken to the LORD God who was confronting them through Moses and Aaron. These Egyptian magicians were never identified in the Book of Exodus, but, as per the biblical principle of subsequent narrative, the Holy Spirit reveals their names through Paul: “Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was” (2 Timothy 3:8,9).

In short, the ministry of Pharaoh’s magicians consisted of nothing more than counterfeiting the LORD’S work (re-read Exodus 7:10-12,19-22; Exodus 8:5-7). Actually, whereas Aaron’s rod resulted in one snake, the magicians seemed to outdo him by producing two! It appeared as though the LORD God was less than powerful than the gods of Egypt, right? The magicians copied the LORD, but they were still limited.

By “spiting the LORD,” they were inflicting injury only upon themselves….

To Spite the LORD! #1

Friday, February 23, 2024

“Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments” (Exodus 7:11 KJV).

Is it really wise for us to spite the LORD? In the grand scheme of things, will He or we lose?

The LORD God endowed Moses with miracle-working power: “And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods” (Exodus 7:10-12).

“And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone. And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments:…” (Exodus 7:19-22).

“And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt. And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt. And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt” (Exodus 8:5-7).

Imagine these revolting circumstances….