Bible Doctrine

On November 17, 2018, a 26-year old American missionary by the name of John Allen Chau was killed on North Sentinel Island, a remote island off the coast of India. The small population inhabiting that island are hostile to any outsider that attempts to visit their island, threatening and killing intruders.

John Chau, a graduate of Oral Roberts University had visited the island once before and was attacked and nearly killed on that visit, an arrow shot at him even piercing the Bible he carried.

Missionary Chau perhaps had never read Jesus’ advice concerning those hostile to the gospel message: “And into whatsoever city or town (or island) you shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy (open-minded, receptive to your message), and there abide till you go thence. And when you come into a house, salute it (greet the occupants in peace). And if the house be worthy (displaying a hospitable attitude). let your peace come upon it (speak to them your message of how they can enjoy peace with God), but if it be not worthy (rejecting your message), let your peace return unto you (say no more). And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, WHEN YOU DEPART OUT OF THAT HOUSE OR CITY (as that is what your Lord commands you to do) shake off the dust of your feet (as a testimony to them that you did not come to take from them, not even a particle of dust from their house or city, but you came to give to them and give freely without price)” (See Matthew 10:11-14). 

One of the hardest lessons I ever learned was that you cannot force-feed spiritual truth. I once thought if you presented the truth clearly enough, if you deftly connected scripture with scripture, if you cited a sufficient number of scripture texts, then surely your hearer, or reader, would see and accept what you were saying. Not so! I failed to consider a couple of facts that make all the difference in the world as to whether the truth will be received when presented.

Number one, I failed to consider Satan’s blinding POWER! Upon appearing to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, Jesus told Saul He was sending him to the Gentiles “to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from THE POWER OF SATAN unto God” (See Acts 26:13-18).

Speaking to the Jews that sought to kill Him, Jesus said, “He that is of God hears God’s words. You therefore hear them not, because you are not of God!” (See John 8:47). And of His “sheep,” Jesus said, “They shall hear my voice” (See John 10:16).

Speaking of the Christ-rejecting Pharisees, Jesus said, “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead!” (See Luke 16:31).

Over and over again Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (See Mark 4:9). Many are not open-minded. It is pointless to try to force-feed such minds. They cannot and will not receive. That is the exact situation John Allen Chau faced on North Sentinel Island. His return to that island was futile and resulted in his death.

Every prospective Christian missionary needs to read the 16th chapter of Acts slowly and carefully, giving extra special attention to the revelation given in verses 6 through 15: “Now when they (Paul and his companions) had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, AND WERE FORBIDDEN OF THY HOLY SPIRIT TO PREACH THE WORD IN ASIA (no door opening to them, no access given to that region at that time), after they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia, BUT THE SPIRIT SUFFERED THEM NOT (again they are not received or find their way essentially blocked), and they passing by Mysia came down to Troas” (verses 6 through 8, Acts 16). 

God must open the human mind and heart to receive spiritual truth.  And unless and until the Holy Spirit does that, sharing that Word with a fellow human being is an exercise in futility.

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

Donald Wiley

How is it that so many have missed the plain, clear, simple FACT that the very first lie ever told of which the Bible speaks and identifies is the LIE Satan told mother Eve in the Garden of Eden: “You shall not surely die”?  (See Genesis 3:4).  She fell for that lie and human beings by the billions have been believing that LIE ever since.  We don’t really die – the Devil said so.  Death is an illusion.  Just the body dies.  We live on and flit off to heaven, hell, limbo, purgatory, the Elysian fields, Nirvana, Valhalla, Paradise, the land of ghosts and goblins, etc., etc., etc.  (Take your pick.  Everybody else does).  God said, “Thou shalt SURELY DIE!” (See Genesis 2:17).  Satan flatly contradicts God, saying, “No, you won’t.”  And who does humanity believe for the most part?  Satan!  Scripture says, “the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground” (See Genesis 2:7).  Satan says, via false religion, “No, He didn’t.  You are an immortal soul.  You aren’t just a physical being.”  And who does humanity believe?  Satan, of course.  God says, “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (See Genesis 3:19).  Satan says, “No you won’t.  Only your body returns to the dust.  The real you, your immortal soul lives on forever either in heaven or hell.”  So who do most humans believe?  The Devil, of course.

 The term “immortal soul” is not found in the Bible.  The term “immortality” is found but five times in the Bible and refers to something God alone possesses or something brought to light by the gospel and will be “put on” by redeemed believers at the time of our resurrection!  (See Romans 2:7; I Corinthians 15:53-54; I Timothy 6:16 and 2 Timothy 1:10).  The term “immortal” is found but one time in the Bible and refers to Jesus Christ.  (See I Timothy 1:17).  Those who remain largely ignorant of the scriptures, believing the MIS-information that has been passed on to them from youth up think scripture texts that speak of Enoch, or Moses and Elijah, or the rich man and Lazarus, or Paul’s statement, “I am willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord” prove one does have an immortal soul that survives the body after death and lives on as a “spirit being” in heaven or hell, or some other such place.  They ignore plain, clear, forthright scripture texts that speak otherwise and formulate their doctrines based on a false assumption.  They feel certain that folks like Billy Graham and “great” theologians of the past could not possibly be mistaken or deceived in such matters.  If Billy says you have an immortal soul that cannot die, then that’s good enough for them.  They have no clue as to how super-intelligent Satan really is with the ability to deceive even the wisest human who ever lived – Solomon!  (Read 1 Kings, Chapter 11 if you doubt the accuracy of that statement).  Oh, Satan might be able to deceive Solomon, but not Billy!  It never dawns on such shallow thinkers that the entire purpose of a resurrection is to BRING BACK TO LIFE THE DEAD!  NOT give them back their physical bodies.  They never seem to notice that when the prophets, the apostles, or even Jesus speak of the dead they ALL without exception use but one of two terms in doing so, calling the dead just that DEAD or ASLEEP!   The Bible NEVER uses any other terminology in referring to dead folks.  Scripture says they are either DEAD or ASLEEP!  Yet refer to the dead as being asleep in most churches and they will run you out the door shouting, “Don’t bring that soul sleep doctrine in here.  We don’t want to hear it!”  How is it that they have missed the FACT that the Bible NEVER uses such language as this in speaking of the dead, “Gone on to glory” or “Now with the Lord” or “Now in heaven” or “Gone to be with Jesus” or any other such terminology.  Nope, when speaking of them it says they’re dead or asleep. 

Satan is very, very good at what he does.  He is without peer in all the universe.  Any human who thinks he can outwit him or evade his deceptions apart from full surrender to Christ as Lord of all and continual searching of the scriptures to really prove all things of a spiritual nature is what the Bible identifies as a “fool.”  Give it some thought!

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

Donald Wiley

“(We) are kept by the power of God through faith” (See I Peter 1:5). Do you have faith God’s mighty power can keep you from ALL sin this day? Remember He “is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (Ephesians 3:20). Do you have the HOLY Spirit’s power working in your or not? If you do, then the tempters power is broken! Finally you can say, “NO!” to every temptation, every lust, every sin!!! Many are alienated from the life of God, a life of continuous victory over sin because of the doctrines that foster spiritual defeat being taught from the pulpits across the land. Multitudes are told, “When God looks at you, believer, all He can see is the righteousness of Christ!” They are further told, “All your good deeds and good works are viewed as filthy rags in God’s sight!” Oh, they have scripture they are certain that supports their view, but they are perverted scriptures, scriptures ripped from the context in which they were written or uttered.

“You have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet you say, ‘Wherein have we wearied him?’ When you say every one that does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them, or, where is the God of judgment?” (Malachi 2:17). Since judgment from God doesn’t immediately follow their sin, they erroneously think God doesn’t disapprove of their sin.

“You meet (have fellowship with) him that rejoices and works righteousness, those that remember you in your ways. Behold, you are angry, for we have sinned. In those (sins) is continuance, and shall we (then) be saved? But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags…our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away (from fellowship with God). And there is none that calls upon your name, that stirs up himself to take hold of you, for you have hid your face from us (his beloved people), and have consumed us, because of our iniquities.” (Isaiah 64:5-7).

Our righteous acts are viewed by God as filthy rags when we continue sinning: one moment obedient, the next moment sinning!

Paul urged the Ephesian congregation, “Sin not….neither give place to the devil” (See Ephesians 4:26-27). Each and every time a believer sins they have momentarily given place to the devil to soil their spotless garments and hold them under his sway. Then Paul goes on to say they have also grieved the Holy Spirit. (See verse 3, Ephesians 4). Do you really think the best God has in store for His faithful sons and daughters is a life that continually grieves the Holy Spirit and falls prey to Satan’s temptations day in and day out???!!

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!” (Philippians 4:13). Should there be a caveat, or qualification, tacked on to that statement, “I can do all things EXCEPT STOP SINNING through Christ who strengthens me?” “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, BUT MIGHTY THROUGH GOD TO THE PULLING DOWN OF STRONG HOLDS, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, AND BRINGING INTO CAPTIVITY EVERY THOUGHT TO THE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). Yes, EVERY THOUGHT!

Jesus said, “That which comes out of the man, that defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart (the mind) of men, proceed EVIL THOUGHTS, adulteries, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things (i.e., thoughts) come from within and defile the man.” (See Mark 7:20-23). That is WHY we must allow our Lord, through the Holy Spirit’s power, to deliver us from every evil thought. If we do not, they will spiritually defile us, leaving us unfit for service to the Lord and hindering our prayers. And most usually this is not accomplished except by prayer and fasting and crying out to God for strength in the battle against the flesh! “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts…” (See Isaiah 55:6-7)

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“According to your faith be it unto you!” (Matthew 9:29). If you are convinced God cannot cleanse your thought life, your mind, or that He cannot or will not keep you from all sin, then He won’t. He can’t, because He only operates in the arena of faith, and you are sitting in the bleachers of the arena of doubt. The Lord doesn’t go there. We must step over to His square. He does not come over to ours. God help you to understand is my prayer.

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

Donald Wiley

Do you know how I would complete that sentence?  Here’s how, “I would do exactly as I am doing right now from the very start of my intellectual maturity.  As soon as I realized I was redeemed by a marvelous Savior, I would do exactly as I am doing right now each day I lived.”

Each day we live is God’s gift to us.  How we live out that day is our gift to God.  I’m trying to pile up lots of gifts in God’s great storeroom – fill it to overflowing.  I would like to think when I enter that other world, that eternal world of the spirit, that some angelic messenger of the Eternal might lead me to a great vault, open the door and say, “There is everything you gave the Master,” and stare in awe and wonder at how great is the room and how high are all the gifts I gave to Him.  Turning to the angel, I might say, “But I only started giving Him my gifts, my labors, my devotion, my obedience and all quite late!!!” only to hear the angel say, “Well, He put it all in that room.”  “Then they that feared the Lord spoke often to one another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that taught upon his name. And they shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son that serves him” (Malachi 3:16-17).

Yesterday the clerk at the post office said, “You’re our best customer this week.”  Wouldn’t it be grand to have Jesus meet you with similar words, “You were my best representative in the town where you lived.” The clerk was referring to the great quantity of Bible study articles I bring to the post office to be mailed to hundreds of pastors throughout the United States and two foreign countries.

Yep, I think I am going to live a long, long time…..(As of this date, March 7, 2025, I am now 82 years old.)

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

Donald Wiley

Jesus warned His hearers time and again that the truth can be illusive and inspired the apostle Paul to urge believers to “prove all things” as spiritual error once taking hold can be almost impossible to shake off.  Most Christians, though certainly not all, when reading how “the sabbath drew on” as Christ’s disciples laid His body in the tomb FALSELY ASSUME this was the weekly sabbath spoken of in this text in Luke 24:54, and that, therefore Jesus was placed in the tomb as the sun was setting on Friday, what many call “Good Friday.”  And most Christians have no idea that the Jews had seven annual sabbaths, called High Holy Day Sabbaths, that fell on various and sundry days of the week so that some few weeks each year had TWO sabbaths during a given week, that being a High Holy Day Sabbath as well as the weekly seventh day sabbath.  (Again, read Leviticus chapter 23 for the listing of these seven annual sabbaths).

When reading John 19, verse 31, many Christians FALSELY ASSUME the sabbath mentioned in that verse was the weekly sabbath, a Friday, ignoring the fact that this verse plainly says “that sabbath day was an High Day” – that is, an annual sabbath, NOT the weekly sabbath!

Is Sunday a holy day, a day that replaces God’s seventh day ETERNAL sabbath as the “Christian” sabbath.  Multiplied millions believe that to be true.  For centuries the Roman Catholic Church has boasted that it was that ancient body of believers that authorized changing God’s eternal Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday.  If one will search carefully and minutely each and every text that seemingly, on the surface, appears to validate Sunday observance they might be compelled to do the same with every Bible text wherein the Sabbath is mentioned.  It is only when all related scriptures are correlated and put together that one sees quite clearly that God’s seventh day sabbath is, as scripture states, ETERNAL, changeless, and that Sunday is as ordinary a day in God’s mind as Monday, Tuesday or any other common work day.

Satan again and again has nullified each and every one of the Ten Commandments.  In Jesus’ day, the time period in which He came to earth to serve as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind, Satan nullified and made void the fifth commandment, “Honor thy father and thy mother.”  We read of this horror in the 7th chapter of Mark’s gospel.  “Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him (Jesus), ‘Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?’  He answered and said unto them, ‘Well has Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honors me with their lips (their speech, what they teach and proclaim), but their heart is far from me.  Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men, for laying aside the (fifth) commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men….And He said unto them, Full well you reject the (fifth) commandment of God that you may keep your own tradition, for Moses said, Honor thy father and thy mother…'” (See verses 1 through 13).

Shortly after the founding of God’s church, Satan moved again to nullify and make void one of God’s eternal Ten Commandments.  This time it was the fourth commandment he made void, “Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy,” replacing that commandment with Sunday observance.  Satan knew he had to have a convincing argument in order to deceive Christians into abandoning sabbath observance and adopting HIS “sacred” day, the day of the sun, a day held sacred by sun worshippers for centuries.  And Satan, at that moment, had a stroke of genius.  He thought, “I know how to get them to abandon God’s eternal sabbath.  I will deceive them into believing Jesus was resurrected on Sunday, that He abolished God’s law when He died on the cross, and that Christian’s should now hold Sunday as a sacred holy day of worship in honor of their Lord having come out of the tomb on a Sunday morning!”  And I believe Satan was pleasantly surprised that his deception worked so well and continues to this day.

Jesus Christ was not crucified on Friday.  He was crucified on Wednesday.  The very next day was the first day of unleavened bread, an annual Sabbath, even though the day of the week was literally a Thursday.  This was the Sabbath His disciples intensely desired to honor as they hastened to place Jesus’ body in the tomb.  When scripture says the women rested the Sabbath day, having failed to properly wash and anoint the Lord’s body, again it was this annual Sabbath, the first day of unleavened bread – a Thursday – they felt compelled to honor. Brethren, study to show yourselves approved by God, workers who need not be ashamed.

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

Donald Wiley 

I believe I have touched on this subject before – the “KEY” to understanding the scriptures.   It was revealed to me many years ago that scripture revelation and obedience are conjoined (or Siamese) twins.  But they are conjoined twins that cannot be separated.  In order to have scripture truth revealed to one’s mind that searcher of the scriptures must OBEY what God reveals to their mind.  The FIRST truths God reveals to the searcher are His moral precepts and commands – NOT the deep, secret things of prophecy.  As one brings their life into adherence to God’s moral laws and judgments, and as he, or she, begins to continue to study God’s Word, searching for the truth, THEN God’s Spirit leads and guides in granting that human mind greater and greater understanding in the Word of God.  To the liar, God says, “Stop lying and I will grant you more truth.”  In Daniel 9:13, the prophet speaks of how one must turn from their iniquities in order to understand God’s truth. 

God does not grant understanding to rebels, and when we continue knowingly in sin, going our own way, breaking God’s commandments, then we are nothing more or less than rebels against God and His way of life.  God’s truths often run counter to human understanding and human, or fleshly, desires.  Therefore, those human beings not fully surrendered to God and His way find His truth unacceptable to their way of thinking.  They then hold on to their error much like a dog will hold on to a towel, or piece of cloth of some kind, as you try to pull it from its mouth.  Someone who has not read the Bible from start to finish even one time will then think they comprehend the scriptures far better than someone who has read the Bible from start to finish fifty or sixty times or more!  And how does one reason with that type of thinking???!!!  It would be similar to my thinking I understand the V8 engine as well, if not better, than a General Motors design engineer whose job is to perfect the V8 engine! 

Many of the youthful pastors that I write have this mindset.  Granted the title “Reverend” by their peers a few years previously upon finishing seminary and going before an “ordination council” of a handful of like-minded preachers, they look down their noses at someone they see as lacking such approval.  Then WHY do I keep sending articles out to such personalities?  Because I do not know just who might have an open mind, who just might be prompted to think a bit more deeply.  And, from time to time, someone says, “I thank God for you, Don Wiley.

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

Donald Wiley

Jesus Christ was crucified on Passover Day, a Wednesday that week. The very next day, although a Thursday, was an annual Sabbath, the First Day of Unleavened Bread (See Leviticus 23:6-8). When scripture says it was “the day before the sabbath” when our Lord was crucified it is speaking of this annual sabbath, not the weekly sabbath (See Mark 15:42). That was the sabbath that “drew on” (See Luke 23:54). John, in his gospel account, even identifies it as “a high day” sabbath, that is an annual sabbath (See John 19: 31).

Jesus said He would be in the tomb three days and three nights, fulfilling the only sign He had given the Jews that He was indeed their Messiah to the letter. (See Matthew 12:38-40). Therefore, being placed in the tomb at evening, as the sun was setting, that was when He arose from the dead – at evening, not the next morning! (See Mark 15:42-47). That’s why when the women arrived at the tomb early Sunday morning, while it was yet dark, they found Him gone. Of course He was gone. He had departed the tomb the previous evening and gone into Galilee before returning to Jerusalem. (See Luke 24:1 and John 20:1 with Matthew 26:31-32 and Mark 14:28).

So, the Good Friday – Easter Sunday tradition is a myth, erroneous and continues to keep the Jewish people believing Jesus was a lying imposter. God forgive the preachers for their ignorance in fostering such a travesty!

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

Donald Wiley

“So you shall say to them. This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the Lord their God nor receive correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth” (Jeremiah 7:28). And then what does the Lord call such a nation in the very next verse of Jeremiah’s writings: “the generation of His wrath.”

There is a point in a nation’s history when God says of that generation, “You have finally gone too far.” That nation might have indeed had a glorious past. That nation in a previous generation might have been used by God to save the world. That nation might have had leaders so illustrious and good that images of those leaders were cast in iron and bronze and set on pedestals in prominent and revered locations. But not now. Not anymore.

I am glad I have entered my early eighties. Perhaps I won’t be around when God totally removes His hand of protection from this land. His withdrawal from such is gradual, but once it begins it cannot be stopped. “My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. I will repay you according to your ways, and your abominations will be in your midst. Then you shall know that I am THE LORD WHO STRIKES” (Ezekiel 7:9). That is one name that is always missing from the lists one might find of the many names of God given in the scriptures: “Jehovah Nakah (naw-KAW’), the Lord who strikes.” From Ezekiel, the people of ancient Judah learned a new name for God. I fear America is going to learn that name quite well, too.

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

Donald Wiley