Bible Doctrine

Of course we struggle with the temptation to sin, “But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Cor. 9:57). “Now thanks be unto God, which ALWAYS causes us to triumph in Christ” (2 Cor. 2:14). Notice, it doesn’t say “sometimes causes us to triumph,” or “most of the time causes us to triumph.” The Word declares God ALWAYS CAUSES US TO TRIUMPH IN CHRIST! Satan lies to millions of believers saying this is not possible!  Therefore when the temptation to sin presents itself to many believers then, click, just like that they give in to that temptation, thinking, “Well, I am only human. No one can resist temptation on every occasion.  Besides it is all covered by the blood anyway.” HERESY. RANK HERESY!    “There has no temptation taken you (not a one, not a single one), but such as is common to man (we have all been there confronted with a similar temptation), but God is faithful, who will not suffer (or allow) you to be tempted above that (which) ye are able (to bear), but will with the temptation (at that exact same moment in time) also make a way to escape (a God made way, hence a perfect escape route) that you may be able to bear it (without ever sinning – NOT EVEN ONCE!)” (I Corinthians 10:13).

Believe God’s Word, not Satan’s clever lies!  A believer will remain a slave of sin every day of their life if they listen to Satan and the clever arguments of men. “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin!” (See Romans 6:11-13).  Paul wrote those words just before writing the words contained in Romans 7 wherein he places himself in the position of the defeated Roman believers and points them the way to continual victory through total submission to Jesus Christ. Although Paul uses the personal pronoun “I” thirty-three times in Romans 7, he is NOT speaking of his own experience.  In Romans 6:19 he says he speaks after the manner of defeated men due to the weakness of THEIR flesh, because they have made the spiritually fatal choice to yield to temptation! If sin is reigning in the life of a believer it is because that believer is letting it do so. Stop yielding! JUST SAY “NO!”  It continually amazes me that someone can read the many victory statements Paul pens in Romans 6 and 8 and yet fail to see that he cannot possibly be speaking of his own spiritual condition in Romans 7, especially if they consider the clear statement Paul makes in Romans 6:19!

Paul mimics the words of our Lord when, in writing the Corinthian believers, he plainly tells them to “SIN NOT!”  (See I Corinthians 15:34).  He urges them to wake up and consider what righteousness truly is – the absence of sin in one’s life.  Jesus Christ did not mince words, or demand the impossible, when he commanded those He forgave to “Go, AND SIN NO MORE!”  (See John 5:14 and John 8:11).  Jesus warned that those who continued to sin become the slaves of sin!  (John 8:34).  He further warned that those who continued to sin could not remain in the household of God forever.  (See John 8:35).  They would be among us for time – not eternity.

It is that same apostle John who later wrote, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.” (See I John 1:8).  He is not contradicting himself or his Lord in saying that as he is making reference to the then prevalent teaching and beliefs of the gnostic psuedo-Christians who taught that God did not see a believer’s sins any longer – that they were all “under the blood” once someone became a Christian.  John says these heretics were deceived in that belief.  God most certainly does see the sin of a believer who so strays, commanding such to confess and forsake such sin.  “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say that we have not sinned (adopting the gnostic view that God does not take note of a believer’s sin), we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (I John 1:9-10).  

If brethren can be in error concerning this most critical doctrine, it must be considered that they can be in error regarding other critical doctrines as well.

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

Donald Wiley

“Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?”  Do you know who dared lay a charge to God’s elect?  The same man who wrote those words in Romans 8:33, the apostle Paul!  “I warned those who sinned before and all others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again I will not spare them, since you seek a proof that Christ is speaking in me…” (See 2 Corinthians 13:2-3, English Standard Version).  Note well what Paul cites as proof that Jesus Christ was speaking through him to the brethren – he condemned their sinning!  Not only did Paul lay a charge against God’s elect for sinning, Jesus did the same.  To the brethren in Thyatira, Jesus warned “I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works” (Revelation 2:22).  To the church in Sardis, Jesus warned, “I know your works.  You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.  Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.  Remember, then, what you received and heard.  Keep it, and repent.  If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.  Yet you still have a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.  The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life.  I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 3:1-6 English Standard Version).

Many do not have the ability to receive what Jesus, or His apostles and prophets, said as they embraced error long, long ago.  Having been taught that the sins of one’s entire life are forgiven and blotted out at the moment of their justification, they believe no sin can be charged against them from that point forward.  They are then spiritually blind to the plain truth you have just read in 2 Corinthians 13 and Revelation chapters 2 and 3 as well as a host of other Bible texts.  There are going to be a lot of surprised Christians on God’s great judgment day.  They will be standing before their Lord wearing filthy, polluted garments.  I fear Demas will have a lot of company standing beside him.  (See 2 Timothy 4:10 with Hebrews 3:12 and James 4:4).  Brethren, God help you to understand and accept what you have just read.

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

Donald Wiley

More than once Jesus said to His disciples, “Why reason ye among yourselves” (Matthew 16:8), or, “Why are you asking one another of what I said?  Ask me!”  Jesus is the source of eternal truth.  If you want to get your doctrines and beliefs straight, saying what Jesus says in a given matter, go to Jesus, go to the Word of God – the Bible!

Many in reading the scriptures, especially the gospel accounts – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – fail to take into account the preconceived ideas and beliefs of our Lord’s disciples upon reading some of the questions His disciples asked Jesus.  Remember, Jesus’ disciples did not expect a sacrificed Messiah.   When He spoke of His impending betrayal and crucifixion, they asked one another “What is He saying?  What does He mean?”  They expected a conquering Messiah – a glorious one who would throw off the Roman yoke and return Jerusalem and Israel to their former glory.  “Then He took unto Him the twelve, and said unto them, ‘Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished, for He shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on, and they shall scourge Him, and put Him to death, and the third day He shall rise again.’  AND THEY UNDERSTOOD NONE OF THESE THINGS, AND THIS SAYING WAS HID FROM THEM, NEITHER KNEW THEY THE THINGS WHICH WERE SPOKEN.”  (Luke 18:31-34).

Who do you think was hiding these truths from the disciples?  Satan, of course.  NEVER underestimate the deceiving POWER of Satan.  Here was Jesus, in person, speaking as plainly as language will allow to His own disciples and Satan hid from them the plain truths Jesus was uttering. These disciples, from the time they were little boys, had heard and been taught that the coming Messiah would be the greatest. most successful leader Israel would ever have.  He would outshine Moses and Joshua, David and Solomon.  He would deliver Israel from all her oppressors.  So, when Jesus said He would be delivered into Roman hands, mocked, spat upon, whipped and put to death, Satan was easily able to hide from them the plain truth of Christ’s words.  So, too, with some doctrinal teaching of many Christians today.  Some Christian denominations have taught profound error for so long to so many, now when they hear the truth, if it is ever presented to them at all, they can’t receive it.  Jesus’ own words can be read or quoted to them verbatim, still it is hid from them neither know they the things which are spoken.

To be continued……

Christ’s Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

The early disciples of Christ, upon having more and more spiritual truth opened to their minds and understanding, said, “We cannot but speak the things we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20). It was just too grand, too wonderful, too mind-boggling to keep to themselves. They probably thought, “If our fellow human beings could only come to see and believe what we have come to see and understand, it would change their lives overnight!”

The prophet Isaiah asked the penetrating question, “Should not a people seek unto their God?” (See Isaiah 8:19). Or, in other words, “Should not created intelligent beings such as the human family seek out their Creator? Shouldn’t they want to know more about Him? Doesn’t He desire something from us as His creation? Can we please Him? Can we displease Him?” Even the pagan cultures of centuries past asked these questions and diligently sought answers, even resorting to human sacrifice in an effort to please whatever gods or goddesses might be taking note of their existence and habits! These ancient cultures were totally unaware that their Creator did indeed wish to fellowship with them, but that He had a plan, a plan with a timetable, that they would TEMPORARILY be cut off from Him until God had brought forth a cadre of surrendered human subjects, who would serve with and under His firstborn Son, Jesus Christ, and then, with the proper knowledge and totally submissive wills these brethren of the Lord would assist their Creator and Lord to open the minds and guide and lead all of the rest of humanity into an eternal relationship with the Most High.

Mankind as a whole has no idea that death presents no obstacle to God in the accomplishment of His stated goal. Most are totally ignorant of the fact that God said, “I kill, and I make alive” a long, long time ago. (See Deuteronomy 32:39-41). They did not know that God’s messenger had declared “With God NOTHING shall be impossible!” (See Luke 1:37). Cut off from God, mankind is wide open to satanic error, therefore coming to believe in ghosts, inherent immortal life, going immediately to heaven or hell at the moment of death, and a host of other false concepts.

Those who did come into contact with the holy scriptures and without God’s Spirit to enlighten and guide them misunderstood, twisted and perverted these sacred texts. Many ignored three-fourths of these inspired writings, calling much of God’s Word “the OLD Testament” and ignoring the counsel and guidance contained therein, thereby spawning dozens and dozens of contradictory denominations, each seeing themselves as bastions of truth and the true body of Christ! And all became confusion.

But God is on His throne. His plan is going forward even now. Nothing can or will derail what God set out to do long, long ago before the foundation of the earth was even laid and before He uttered the words, “Let us make man in our image, and after our likeness….” He is doing just that. He is right on schedule time. And this knowledge gives one that peace that surpasses all understanding. Do YOU have that peace?

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

Donald Wiley

John Wesley on “Never Truly Saved “

“Calvinists, who deny that salvation can ever be lost, reason on the subject in a marvelous way. They tell us, that no virgin’s lamp can go out; no promising harvest be choked with thorns; no branch in Christ can ever be cut off from unfruitfulness; no pardon can ever be forfeited, and no name blotted out of God’s book!

They insist that no salt can ever lose its savor; nobody can ever ‘receive the grace of God in vain’; ‘bury his talents’; ‘neglect such great salvation’; trifle away ‘a day of grace’; ‘look back’ after putting his hand to the gospel plow. Nobody can ‘grieve the Spirit’ till He is ‘quenched,’ and strives no more, nor ‘deny the Lord that bought them’; nor ‘bring upon themselves swift destruction.’

Nobody, or body of believers, can ever get so lukewarm that Jesus will spew them out of His mouth. They use reams of paper to argue that if one ever got lost he was never found (John 17:12); that if one falls, he never stood (Rom. 11:16-22 and Heb. 6:4-6); if one was ever ‘cast forth,’ he was never in, and ‘if one ever withered,’ he was never green (John 15:1-6); and that ‘if any man draws back,’ it proves that he never had anything to draw back from (Heb. 10:38,39); that if one ever ‘falls away into spiritual darkness,’ he was never enlightened (Heb 6:4-6); that if you ‘again get entangled in the pollutions of the world,’ it shows that you never escaped (2 Pet 2:20); that if you ‘put salvation away’ you never had it to put away, and if you make shipwreck of faith, there was no ship of faith there!!

In short they say: If you get it, you can’t lose it; and if you lose it you never had it. May God save us from accepting a doctrine, that must be defended by such fallacious reasoning!

~ John Wesley

The two thousand year old warning?  It’s found in the ninth chapter of the Book of Revelation, verses 13 thru 21.  This is the passage that speaks of the great river Euphrates and the army of two hundred million horsemen.  John says, “and I heard the number of them,” emphasizing this as when he wrote an army of that number would have been totally unbelievable, a ludicrous number.  But it is the 18th verse that contains the most startling number: “By these three was THE THIRD PART of men killed…”  A third part of mankind would be somewhere in the neighborhood of two BILLION people!

By what three?  “By fire and smoke and brimstone.”  (See verse 17).  What is produced by a nuclear explosion?

The Euphrates River begins in the mountains of Northern Turkey and runs down through Syria, then through Iraq and into the Persian Gulf, ISIS stomping grounds.  There are well over 300 million Muslims living in the Middle East right now.

God doesn’t want His faithful sons and daughters taken unaware or terrified by world events.  “In me, ye shall have peace,” Christ said.  And He didn’t qualify that statement.  We can have peace regardless of what age or era we live in, regardless of what transpires around us.  God gives us a “heads up” warning, letting us know what we can expect.

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

Donald Wiley

Nowhere does the Bible say the earth will be desolate and uninhabited for a thousand years – nowhere!  That is Seventh Day Adventist Ellen G. White’s false assumption.  Read Revelation 20 slowly and carefully.  Why is Satan bound for a thousand years and cast into the bottomless pit?  TO PREVENT HIM FROM DECEIVING THE NATIONS ANY LONGER!  If there are no people, no nations on earth capable of being deceived, then why prevent Satan from working his deceptions on people who do not even exist!!!!   Verse 3 of Revelation 20 says the devil is cast into the bottomless pit “that he should deceive the nations no more.”  When Satan is loosed from his prison at the conclusion of the thousand years he “shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth…” (verses 7 and 8).  And how many people are on earth at that point in time?  “The number of whom is as the sand of the sea” (verse 8).  Millions and millions!

If one can only free themselves up from believing Ellen G. White was an infallible prophetess and let the Bible say what it so plainly says, they instantly see that this earth is inhabited throughout the thousand years and that Satan is bound so that he cannot deceive the inhabitants of earth at that time!  It does not take a lot of careful study to discern this.  It only takes  believing God’s Word over the word of a deceived woman.

Ellen G. White failed to see that the words spoken by Jeremiah in Jeremiah 4 are not describing something visited upon the whole earth but on the city of JERUSALEM AND JUDAH ONLY.  Verse 3 identifies to whom God is speaking: “For thus saith the Lord TO THE MEN OF JUDAH AND JERUSALEM.”  He then says to Jeremiah, “Declare ye (this prophecy) IN JUDAH, AND PUBLISH IN JERUSALEM…” (verse 5).  It is to “this people (the Jews) AND TO JERUSALEM” God is speaking (verse 11).  “Watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against THE CITIES OF JUDAH” (verse 16).  The “whole land” mentioned in verse 20 is still Judah!  The “earth” Jeremiah is beholding in verse 23 is the earth of Judah – NOT the whole planet!  There was “no man” IN JUDAH!  (verse 25).    The “broken down cities” mentioned in verse 26 are the cities OF JUDAH!  The “whole land that is made desolate” IS JUDAH!  “Every city” of Judah shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein.  (verse 29).  Forget your chapter break and read on into the first verse of chapter 5.  Again Jerusalem is clearly shown to be the city God is condemning in the prophecy.  This prophecy was fulfilled in Jeremiah’s own lifetime.  Jeremiah 4 is NOT an unfulfilled prophecy speaking of what is going to happen to the entire planet earth.

Christ’s Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

Islam’s vow to deliver up this entire world to Allah’s rule and devotion is no idle threat. In fact, your Bible testifies quite clearly and unmistakably that this will indeed occur, no, not in your lifetime, perhaps not in the lifetime of your children or grandchildren, but before Jesus’ return Islam will become the one world religion spoken of in the Book of Revelation. (See Revelation Chapter 13).

I purchased and read my first Koran (Quran) over thirty-five years ago, reading every word in it again and again. That is when the Lord opened my eyes to see that the “beast” of Revelation is Islam and “the false prophet” of Revelation is Roman Catholicism. These two false religions will join hands at the very close of the age, shortly before Christ’s return. Satan is the author and preserver of both of these error-filled, murderous religions.

In the 23rd chapter of Luke’s gospel account, verses 11 and 12, we read these words: “And Herod with his men of war set Him (Jesus Christ) at nought, and mocked Him and arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe, and sent Him to Pilate (for sentencing), and the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together for before they were at enmity (hostile) between themselves.” Satan, in order to get Jesus put to death, moved in the minds and hearts of these two evil men, who formerly had hated one another, to make them move in agreement against their common foe, Jesus Christ. The citizens of this evil world, living at the close of the age, are going to see some strange bedfellows – Roman Catholicism and Islam – united! These two entities, who despise and hate one another now, will eventually embrace and unite forces to stamp out all other religions. Many believers can easily see Roman Catholicism in the prophecies of Revelation. Few see Islam, and, of the two, Islam is the most dangerous and destructive.

Roman Catholicism has a long endurance record – centuries longer than Islam. Roman Catholiism will not allow herself to be engulfed and annihilated by Islam. Roman Catholicism has long been a great compromiser If various South American peoples and South American Indians are deeply attached to their ancient religious beliefs Roman Catholicism simply incorporates them into their religion. If Rome had to force a pope (Pope Benedict XVI) into retirement in order to appease Islam, Rome did so.

This present generation will not be on the scene when Roman Catholicism and Islam unite. The generation to follow might not live long enough to see this occur, but I assure you, this unification will come to pass. God help you to understand.

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

Donald Wiley