Bible Doctrine

During the formative years of the early church four Caesars reigned in Rome: Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero. Those Christians who lived during that era were taught to “honor the king.” They didn’t have to like him. We now have a leader, a ruler, if you will, whom many do not like. But let’s refrain from speaking evil of the man. “It is written, ‘Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.'” (See Acts 23:5). God cautions that His thoughts are not our thoughts. (See Isaiah 55:8).

I am not troubled about what tomorrow holds for America. America might even delay the Islamic encroachment in America for a few years. Who knows? Islam WILL have its successes and defeats in this country, but its spread across the land WILL continue. Still l am not worried. True believers know that they are but pilgrims in this land, immigrants, if you will. We are sojourners, wayfarers, aliens on this earth. There’s an old hymn that says, “This world is not my home; I’m just a’ passing through…” Que sera sera….whatever will be, will be.”

God’s Word promises, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusts in thee.” (Isaiah 26:3) We need not be in a tizzy about anything. My mother had an Ethel Waters album. There was a song on that album that had the line, “Well, it’s wonderful to have God for a partner as He will always be by your side.” If He isn’t, we are the one who moved. He didn’t. God stands on His square and bids us come over and stand on it with Him. We join Him on His square. He doesn’t move over to ours. We just need to study God’s Word energetically so that we always know which square He is standing on. Is He on the Sunday square or the Sabbath square? Is He on the “only believe” square or the “keep the commandments” square? If we move to the wrong square, it might well be crowded with others. But that is not proof we are on the right square. In fact, that might well indicate that we are standing on the wrong square. It has taken me the better part of seven decades to get to the right square, and I ain’t moving.

Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

Let me pause here to point out that Donald Wiley cannot reveal one word of spiritual truth to another human mind. Unless God is moving through the agency of the Holy Spirit to enlighten and grant comprehension most, if not all, of what I write will be seen as just my personal opinion, merely my way of thinking, going in one ear and out the other.

As I have pointed out in other articles, most folks do not change their religious beliefs. Born a Catholic you die a Catholic. Reared a Baptist, you die a Baptist. Raised to go to church on Sunday, you will probably be sitting in the church pew on Sunday when you are ninety-three years old should you live to such a great age. Satan is well aware of this human trait – that humans generally do not abandon their religious heritage and upbringing. Whatever your denominational affiliation, you will have scriptures that seemingly support your denomination’s viewpoint in any given matter regarding scripture interpretation. Plus, you will have revered church leaders that support your denomination’s views. And unless the Holy Spirit moves in miraculously affording light and understanding you will just have too much pulling you in the direction you have been proceeding all of your days. Thus, born and reared a Lutheran your funeral will be conducted in a Lutheran church by a Lutheran minister. Satan is far more aware of that FACT than you are. This is not to say divine truth cannot be known. It can, but about the hardest mental exercise anyone will ever experience is trying to unlearn something they have learned and then proceed to believe something else, generally the very opposite of their present belief in some matter.

A Sunday observer knows and knows that he knows he has it right in at least that one area of doctrine. He has scripture passages that he is absolutely certain supports him in his belief. He has millions who agree with him – even much revered church leaders and spokesmen. He feels they just cannot be wrong. He is “locked in” to his beliefs, for he feels these church leaders would have discovered their error long ago and shared the same with fellow Christians. He is unaware of how Satan works and what a supreme master Satan is at his craft – the art of deception.

A casual, one time reading of the Bible is utterly insufficient to bring someone to see and understand the mighty doctrines of the body of Christ. The Word of God has to become a huge portion of one’s memory bank. One has to read ALL OF IT – from Genesis to Revelation, again and again and again. And, first and foremost, one has to abandon all sin in order for the Holy Spirit to really speak to their mind and conscience. The prophet Daniel makes this abundantly clear when he spoke of how we must turn from our sins in order to understand God’s truth. (See Daniel 9:13). Unforsaken sin has a blinding effect upon the human mind. God help you to understand.

Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

Haven’t you ever wondered WHY God has evidently insisted upon being called the God OF ISRAEL. Remember, He is called that one hundred and eighty-eight times in the scriptures and only calls Himself the God of the Gentiles (i.e., nations). (See Romans 3:29). Jesus, this God of Israel, declares “other sheep I have (the Gentiles), which are not of this fold (Israel), them also I must bring (to God the Father), and they shall hear my voice (so as to understand and respond), AND THERE SHALL BE ONE FOLD (SPIRITUAL ISRAEL), AND ONE SHEPHERD (JESUS CHRIST)” (See John 10:16). And that one fold is the spiritual house of Israel!!!

There are not two bodies of Christ – a Gentile fold and an Israelite, or Jewish, fold. Nor is there a Sunday keeping fold and a sabbath keeping fold. There is but ONE fold, one body of Christ – and that body of Christ is spiritual Israel. This is a basic, fundamental doctrine of scripture, and unless rightly understood literally hundreds of scriptures remain locked to the understanding of not just the world but locked to the understanding of believers – even many “preachers!”

Satan has a greater understanding of this truth than most ministers, and that is pathetic, reprehensible, tragic, but nonetheless TRUE! That is WHY Satan moved early on to divide the body of Christ into two folds – a Sabbath keeping fold and a Sunday keeping fold. Seeing his success, he then moved quickly to divide and subdivide these two bodies into scores of differing, dissenting, bickering organizations by introducing denominationalism. And his success has been staggering. Satan had a masterstroke of genius when he moved to confuse believers into thinking the terms Old Testament and Old Covenant were synonymous thereby leading some believers into thinking the Old Testament had, in a sense, been abolished or done away with – no longer used to formulate doctrine or determine God’s will in a given matter. His second masterstroke of genius was to deceive some believers, and, yes, it has proven to be the majority of believers, that God’s sacred, holy, ETERNAL Sabbath was changed from the seventh day of the weekly cycle to the first day of the week, from Saturday (actually from sunset Friday till sunset Saturday) to Sunday! Many believers are convinced God authorized this change in honor of Christ’s resurrection – a belief that is without one shred of scriptural authority or proof.

The God of Israel meets in fellowship with spiritual Israel on the Sabbath – always has and always will. That is not to say we cannot have marvelous, valid fellowship with God on the other six days of the week. We can and should, but scripture plainly reveals that God “blessed and sanctified” the seventh day. (See Genesis 2:1-3). No such language is ever used of the first day of the week, Sunday. In God’s eyes Sunday is a regular work day, a day as common as any other! Paul’s writings have been perverted, distorted, misinterpreted to supposedly show that Sunday is the “Christian” Sabbath. Not so! God help you to understand.

Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

One of the most difficult things any human will ever be called upon to do is to unlearn something he, or she, has learned and long accepted as established and unarguable truth. This difficulty becomes even more profound when that person realizes that just about everyone they know believes exactly the same as they do in some given matter. It is almost impossible for them to reconcile to their minds that their revered religious instructors and teachers could be wrong in some of the most basic matters discussed in the Word of God. That is why most Baptists live and die Baptists. Most Methodists live and die Methodists, etc., etc., etc. People, by and large, just do not change their religious beliefs. Then, too, they DO have a handful of scriptures that seemingly support them in their beliefs. To their mind, to change their beliefs they would have to deny the plain Word of God in some spiritual matter, concerning some Bible doctrine they hold to be true. Also, many have some experience they can point to, or fall back on, that seemingly supports them in their erroneous beliefs. If I have been “talking in tongues” most every Sunday in church, it will be hard, if not impossible, for someone to convince me that such a practice is not supported by scripture. I have the experience, partner, don’t confuse me with the facts. If someone has attended a seance and had grandmother speak to them from “the other side,” you will have a difficult time at best convincing that person that their grandmother is asleep in the grave, knowing nothing, awaiting a resurrection to life and wakeful conscious mind activity once more. Plus, that person may well have some scriptures they are certain supports them fully in their belief about grandmother’s present state.

I learned a long time ago that those who embrace spiritual error generally do not consider ALL the scripture texts and passages that address a given doctrine or belief. Scriptures that contradict their beliefs or practices are either pointedly ignored or frankly never considered. Perhaps that person embracing error just doesn’t know about these other texts or passages. And, of course, when they have “an experience” that supports their viewpoint, then they are quite effectively “locked in” to their present belief and will probably proceed through life and eventually die holding to their error. That’s just the way it is.

I felt I needed to lay that groundwork before discussing any further this Biblical doctrine of Gentile believers being spiritual Israelites in God’s eyes. Recall once more that God is called the God of Israel ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-EIGHT times in the Bible and ONLY ONCE called the God of the Gentiles! (See Romans 3:29). God inspired that phenomenal record intentionally and for a purpose. He wants us to see and view Him as just that – the God OF ISRAEL, as He wants us to see what Satan definitely does not want us to see, that any and ALL believers are and comprise spiritual Israel. Paul, the apostle to the GENTILES, was chosen by God to reveal this profound truth to the church. It is through Paul’s letters primarily – but not totally – that Gentile believers are given the revelation that in God’s eyes they are Israelites, the only true Israelites in God’s eyes – spiritual Israelites.

Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

In the opening verses of Colossians Chapter 2, Paul speaks of having “the full assurance of understanding” and that in Jesus Christ “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and understanding.” And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words” (See Colossians 1:2-4). Well respected and highly educated theologians and various preachers can be quite convincing in the arguments they present to show, even “prove,” that the sabbath day was either totally abolished or at least changed to the first day of the week. They even use the “enticing words” of Colossians 2 assuring their hearers that this was definitely the practice of the early church – even the Christians spoken of in the Book of Acts. They cite the 20th chapter of Acts as their primary proof text as well as statements made by the apostle Paul in his letters to the Romans (chapter 14), the Corinthians (chapter 16, I Corinthians), and the Colossians (chapter 2).

But dwell a bit further on the careful foundation Paul lays down in Colossians Chapter 2, when he directs these believers’ attention to how it is in Jesus Christ “are HID all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (verse 3). He then goes on to speak of how believers are “rooted and built up in Him,” telling the Colossians that they are “complete in Him” (see verses 7 and 10). He warns these believers “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” (verse 8).  The sabbath was never a mere tradition of men, nor was it a rudiment of this present evil world. Those who walk in error cannot cite one thing Jesus Christ said to support them in their spurning of God’s eternal, holy sabbath and adopting Sunday as their “new” sabbath! Therefore, many of them erroneously argue that during His earthly ministry Jesus Christ said nothing to New Covenant believers but all He said was addressed solely to the Old Covenant Jew and no one else! They simply ignore the last three verses of Matthew’s gospel account: “And Jesus came and spake unto them (the eleven disciples), saying, ‘All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, AND TEACH ALL NATIONS (Romans, Greeks, Europeans, Orientals, Asians, Americans, etc.), baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost (Spirit), TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER I HAVE COMMANDED YOU, and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” (Matthew 28:18-20).

Most Sunday observers probably mean well and really do think Paul authorizes abandoning the sabbath for Sunday observance, but they fall prey to what Peter warned about Paul’s writings, when he said, “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 (in the scriptures) and (spiritually) unstable wrest (twist, distort, misinterpret), as they do also the other scriptures (not just Paul’s epistles), to their own (spiritual) destruction” (See 2 Peter 3:15-16).  One learned in the Hebrew scriptures, to which Paul refers, knows that God’s sacred sabbath day would never be changed and would, indeed, be kept and honored in the new heavens and new earth yet to come.  (See Isaiah 66:23).

Well, since all the treasures and wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Jesus Christ, and since we are to be rooted and built up in Him, and since we are complete in Him, let’s see what Jesus had to say about the sabbath, whether He gave any indication that it was to be changed in any way at any time. I know of no better place to start than our Lord’s ” Sermon on the Mount.” Beginning with verse 17 of Matthew 5, Jesus says, “Think NOT that I am come to destroy the law (the Books of Moses), or the prophets (the remaining Hebrew scriptures). I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily (truly) I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass , one jot or one tittle (or, not one iota) shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.. Whosoever shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven (even if he does make it into the kingdom of heaven he will be counted among the least with citizenship therein), but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (verses 17 through 19, Matthew 5). And to make certain there was no doubt as to which commandments Jesus was referring, He cites two of those commandments word-for-word: “Thou shalt not kill” (verse 21) and “thou shalt not commit adultery” (verse 27). Folks, our Lord is talking about the Ten Commandments, and He clearly said that heaven and earth would have to pass away before there could be the slightest change in any of these commandments! That, of course, would include the fourth commandment, “Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy!”  In fact, it is the only commandment that begins with the injunction REMEMBER. Yet it is the only one of the Ten Commandments multitudes say we can forget!!!  Satan is without peer in his ability to deceive even the most intelligent and religious members of the human family.  Only uninterrupted, total submission to Jesus Christ can keep one from being deceived by Satan.

In the 14th verse of Colossians 2, Paul writes of how the cross succeeded in “blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.”  Paul would never have used such language in speaking of the Ten Commandments, especially the fourth commandment to “remember the sabbath day to keep it holy,” for he knew quite well that the sabbath keeper was blessed by God.  (See Isaiah 56:2).  Through Isaiah, God said that one who kept the sabbath was pleasing to Him.  (See Isaiah 56:4).  God told His people to “call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable.”  (See Isaiah 58:13).  God’s holy sabbath was never against us or contrary to us. how absurd to even think so.

It is the 16th and 17th verses of Colossians 2 that have proven to be the stumbling block for so many.  Those verses read “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days, WHICH ARE A SHADOW OF THINGS TO COME, BUT THE BODY IS OF CHRIST.”  Notice that the little word “is”is in italics in the King James Version of the Bible.  Such italicized words were meant to indicate that the translators added the italicized word in an effort to make the meaning clearer in some passages.  Generally they did make the meaning clearer, but in Colossians 2:17 Paul’s meaning is obscured by adding the word “is” in that verse.  Paul actually wrote “Let no man judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body of Christ (the church)” was to judge such matters.

Judaizers were insisting that these Gentile converts were obligated to offer meat and drink offerings to God on the annual holy days and new moon festivals observed by ancient Israel.  Paul said, “Not so! Let the elders in the church arbitrate and decide such issues.”  Nothing whatsoever is said about God’s eternal holy sabbath day being set aside, changed or abolished.  God help you to understand is my prayer.

Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

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Zechariah 14 absolutely proves that Jesus Christ could not possibly return today or any time within the foreseeable future.  The world to which Jesus Christ will return will have been horribly decimated by nuclear war.  People won’t have to travel from far distances to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Tabernacles there as the only inhabited parts of the globe in all probability will be those countries immediately adjacent to Israel or countries within a few hundred miles, or less, from Israel!  I know that this sounds shocking, almost unbelievable, but let’s look at that text in Zechariah 14 again a bit more closely.

Beginning with verse 16, we read: “And it SHALL come to pass (this prophecy MUST be fulfilled to the letter), that every one that is left (has survived the total war and nuclear devastation) of ALL the nations WHICH CAME AGAINST JERUSALEM shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.”  Notice, the text does NOT say people from all the nations on the earth, but people of “all the nations which came against Jerusalem” in battle, primarily the Arab nations surrounding Israel.

Verse 17: “And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth (which came against Jerusalem)  unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts (Jesus Christ), even upon them shall be no rain.”

Verse 18: “And if the family of Egypt (Arab Muslims) go not up, and come not (still refusing to honor Jesus Christ as the Son of God), that have no rain, there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen (Gentiles) that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.”

Verse 19: “This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all (surviving) nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.”  Folks won’t be coming to Jerusalem from China and the Western world as all such shall have then been killed in the only world war the Bible speaks of, a nuclear war that destroys humankind by the billions!  In Revelation 2:27 we read that Jesus Christ and His overcomer followers will then rule the peoples of this planet “with a rod of iron,” that is forcible, heavy-handed rule if necessary.  Also remember that this is not speaking of people alive on earth today but of a future generation.

I know that much of what I now write will be shocking and almost incomprehensible to most of my readers and their pastors as most believers are woefully ignorant of the scriptures, thinking Jesus could return at any moment.  (This email article will soon be published on my website).

Verse 20: “In that day (yes, at this yet future time) shall there be upon the bells OF THE HORSES (mechanized vehicles are no more), ‘holiness unto the Lord,’ and the pots in the Lord’s house (yes, the temple will have been rebuilt prior to Christ’s return – remember 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5) shall be like the bowls before the altar (all considered sacred vessels).”

But why is the feast of tabernacles mentioned?  Why not Passover or Pentecost or some other feast day?  Because the feast of tabernacles was the only feast time that was a teaching festival.  (See Nehemiah 8).  These surviving peoples must be educated as quickly as possible in the ways of the Lord, in what God demands of His creation.  The feast of tabernacles is re-instituted to make this possible.

The present population of this earth is now estimated at about 7.6 billion people.  Seven-and-a-half billion people cannot possibly gather together in Jerusalem or anywhere else, but in the book of Revelation we are told that BILLIONS of earth’s inhabitants are killed prior to Christ’s return.  One fourth of mankind, nearly TWO BILLION humans, are killed by war, famine and disease at the very beginning of what is commonly called the Great Tribulation.  (See Revelation 6:8).

To be continued…..

Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

I do not know why the Eternal Creator has condescended to open my eyes to see clearly some things in His sacred word that has remained hidden to a vast number of others who have studied that word. Men and women who never once violated man’s law and probably rarely violated God’s law, who lived circumspect lives and were good providers to their families and studied the Bible in depth, still failed to see some of the truths God revealed to my mind.

I was meditating upon the 56th chapter of Isaiah from one of my older Bibles in which I had made several notations in the margin and noticed that I had long ago made this notation, “The invitation to the Gentiles to come to the Lord simultaneously urges sabbath observance.” This notation is made beside verses 1 through 7 of Isaiah 56.

Excluding the Ethiopian eunuch, who was a Jewish proselyte, the earliest Gentile to receive an invitation to join the people of God, or the church, was the Roman centurion Cornelius – and that was a good ten years after Calvary, the cross and the Lord’s resurrection. His story is told in Acts chapter 10. Yet God, through the pen of Isaiah the prophet, urges Cornelius and all other Gentiles to remember the sabbath day to keep it holy!

Preachers who ignore the words of God spoken through the Hebrew prophets embrace great error and have their minds locked to ever receiving and knowing the truth!

Isaiah 56:3 says, “Neither let the son of the stranger (the Gentile), that has joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, ‘The Lord hath utterly separated me from His people…” Sunday observance by the Gentiles did just that! God’s people were divided early on by this clever ruse of Satan when Satan led those ignorant of God’s words to think God Himself authorized Sunday observance to replace sabbath keeping! That never happened. Never will happen. Perhaps in eternity God will explain to me why He opened my eyes to discern this truth while leaving millions of others in a blinded state in this regard. And, of course He has also opened thew eyes and understanding of millions of others to accept the truth of the sabbath, also, for instance Sabbath Day Adventists, Seventh Day Baptists, Churches of God Seventh Day, and multitudes of others.

Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12)

Donald Wiley

In the 13th chapter of the Book of Acts, Satan’s blinding power is displayed more clearly than in almost any other passage in the Bible.  In the 14th verse of Acts 13, we read, “But when they (Paul and Barnabas) departed from Perga (the modern day city of Murtina, Turkey), they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down.”  In the 15th verse of Acts 13, the synagogue rulers invite Paul and Barnabas to speak to the congregation.  Paul does so, and from verse 16 through verse 41 is recorded the sermon Paul then delivered to that congregation.

It is in verses 42 through 44, we then see displayed Satan’s awesome blinding power, for many thousands of Sunday observing preachers have read and expounded on these verses unable to see what they so clearly and unmistakably say.  I now quote from the King James Version of the Bible these three all-important verses: “And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, THE GENTILES BESOUGHT THAT THESE WORDS MIGHT BE PREACHED TO THEM THE NEXT SABBATH.” (Verse 42).  “Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who SPEAKING TO THEM PERSUADED THEM TO CONTINUE IN THE GRACE OF GOD.” (verse 43).  AND THE NEXT SABBATH DAY CAME ALMOST THE WHOLE CITY TOGETHER TO HEAR THE WORD OF GOD.” (verse 44).

Friend, if God’s sacred, eternal sabbath day had been replaced by Sunday observance many years before, Paul would not have had these Gentiles wait until the next sabbath day to preach to them the grace of God.  He would have informed them that by the grace of God the sabbath had been abolished following Jesus Christ’s resurrection and that he would meet with them the very next day – Sunday, what multitudes erroneously call “the Lord’s Day!  In the 20th chapter of the Book of Acts, when Paul does meet with fellow believers on a Sunday, it is NOT because the day long set aside by the pagans for worship of the sun god had replaced God’s sacred, eternal sabbath, but because it was being rumored that Paul was leaving the area never to return.  Believers waited until the holy sabbath had passed before making the arduous journey  to Troas to hear Paul speak one last time.  Nothing in the text says they met together every Sunday.  (See Acts 20:25). 

“You have rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from your commandments” (Psalm 119:21).  “The works of his hands are truth and judgment.  ALL HIS COMMANDMENTS ARE SURE.  THEY STAND FAST FOR EVER AND EVER, and are done in truth and uprightness” (Psalm 111:7-8).  The Ten Commandments were written by the finger of God on two stone tablets.  (Exodus 31:18).  The Ten Commandments were not the work of Moses.  They were and are the work of God, written by His own hand.  Again, Satan’s blinding power is seen in another Bible passage that clearly states ALL HIS COMMANDMENTS ARE SURE.  THEY STAND FAST FOR EVER AND EVER!  Jesus Christ Himself said the sabbath was made FOR MAN – not just the Jew!  (See Mark 2:27-28).  The sabbath was sanctified at the time of the creation of man – centuries before the first Jew was born!  (See Genesis 2:2-3).  Adam was not a Jew!  The sabbath will still be sacred to God in the new heavens and new earth and ALL FLESH will honor it then though refusing to do so now.

The foregoing words of eternal truth will judge every believer who appears before the judgment seat of Christ.  I guarantee you thousands of preachers and Bible teachers will stand before their Lord at that day wishing they had not been so headstrong and unteachable in this life.

Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

“Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on Him?” (See John 7:48). That was the question asked by the Pharisees when the temple officers returned to them without arresting Jesus. The apostle Paul warned that when we measure ourselves by ourselves and compare ourselves with one another we are not wise, that is, if I gauge or measure whether I have and know the truth by asking the question, “Do most other Christians believe this way,” then I am using the wrong criterion or measuring stick. After all, scripture warns that Satan deceives THE WHOLE WORLD – especially the religious world. (See Revelation 12:9). The criterion we must use is the Word of God. One must become intimately acquainted with God’s Word in order to determine if the Baptists have it right or the Amish, the Presbyterians or the Pentecostals, the Episcopalians or the Roman Catholics. Almost all of them agree that God’s Sabbath day has been abolished and replaced with the pagan day of the sun – Sunday. Is this the one truth where Satan was unable to exercise his power of deception? Or is this one falsehood where Satan worked his most powerful deception?

Folks, life’s little day grows ever shorter. Are you sure you have it right or are you leaning on the arm of flesh, trusting your fellow humans have it right? Are you measuring yourself with others, comparing yourself and your beliefs with that of others who themselves might have fallen prey to Satan’s incredible deceptive powers? Satan’s deceptive arguments can seem so convincing. Satan quoted scripture to Jesus, trying to deceive even Him. And he will quote plenty of scripture to you, too, taking it out of context and omitting many other scriptures that give the scripture he quotes an entirely different slant and meaning. And he will misquote scripture, too. He will do this through the lips and writings of well-meaning men and women, men and women he deceived long ago in many areas of their beliefs and teachings.

One other thing, any sin in your life will have its blinding power when you go to the scriptures to discern what they actually say. Hold on to any sin and you will be ripe for deception. God help you to understand.  The prophet Daniel spoke of how Israel would have to turn away from their sins if they hoped to understand God’s truth, and that is true of any people or individual.  (See Daniel 9:13).

Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley