Bible Doctrine

Since there is no conscious awareness in death, it doesn’t matter if ten billion years elapse before you are resurrected back to life. As far as your ability to know, to be aware, to realize anything is concerned as soon as you breathe out your last breath you are changed from mortal to immortal. Again, a great deal of time might pass between the moment your heart stops beating and you are resurrected in a marvelous spirit body, but, as far as you are concerned, as much as you can discern or perceive, your heart stops and in the next instant of awareness you live again regardless of how much time passes. If the resurrection occurs in the year 2045, those who died in 1765, or 1544, or 1924 will feel as though it is still the year, the month, the day on which they died!!!!  It was this knowledge that prompted Paul to write, “For I am in a strait (difficult place) betwixt (between) two (desires or choices), having a desire to depart (this present physical existence), and to be with Christ, which is far better” (Philippines 1:23).  Paul knew and taught that there was no knowledge of passing time in death.  The believer departs this life and, as far as their ability to know, discern, and comprehend, they are immediately with their Lord even though thousands of years will have passed between the moment of their breathing their last and their returning to life at the time of the resurrection of believers. 

When Jesus Christ stood outside the tomb of Lazarus and cried out, “Lazarus, come forth,” the man had been dead for four days. Had he died on Monday, not in a coma, but conscious and knowing that it was a Monday, when Jesus resurrected him on Friday, Lazarus would have stepped out of the tomb fully expecting it to still be Monday. He would have been mystified to learn that it was now Friday! (Of course we don’t know what day of the week Lazarus died. We only know that he was dead for four days. See John 11:39-44).

It was probably this knowledge that prompted the apostle Paul to write that he was “willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (See 2 Corinthians 5:8). Note well, that Paul did NOT say to be absent from the body IS to be present with the Lord. He knew a great deal of time might elapse between the moment of his death and the resurrection of believers. All he was saying was that he was not fearful of no longer having a physical, fleshly body, but was willing to be forever separated from a fleshly body and to be present with the Lord in an eternal, immortal spirit body. Paul had just explained that in these physical bodies we groan and are burdened as these physical bodies suffer disability and pain. (See 2 Corinthians 5:1-4). Paul looked forward to the day our mortality is swallowed up in life. And in the 15th chapter of I Corinthians Paul explained that this event would occur at the time of our resurrection – NOT at the moment of our death! Death is swallowed up in victory at the time of our resurrection – NOT at the moment we die!

Christ’s Servant (Galatians 10-12),

Donald Wiley

“Jair, A Gileadite…judged Israel twenty and two years. And he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts…..” (See Judges 10:3-4). Believe it or not, there is a lot of “filler” information in the scriptures, a lot of seemingly unnecessary statements made. The preceding quote is one instance of such. If one reads the prophets, they will come across a lot of similar statements – information I call filler, yet inspired of God to be included in what was written for a very good reason. God is very good at what He does. “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing” (Proverbs 25:2). The apostle Paul speaks of “the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.” Yet this mystery “is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets” (See Romans 16:25-26). Yet how is something kept secret if it is written in plain and clear easy-to-understand language millions understand? That is one reason, perhaps the main reason, God inspired a lot of “filler” to be placed in the scriptures. Those without God’s illuminating Spirit are unable to see the small forest of God’s truth due to the great leafy trees, whose branches extend out in every direction thereby blocking the view of the casual reader or observer.

“Whom shall He teach knowledge? and whom shall He make to understand doctrine?” Because it is written “here a little, and there a little” (See Isaiah 28:9-10). To understand the doctrines of God, one must pull together scriptural statements scattered widely throughout God’s Word, both Hebrew and Greek scriptures. Those unacquainted with how God inspires the truth to be concealed call this “cherry picking!” To them, for the most part, the Bible remains a closed book. Using mainly the New Testament to formulate their doctrines and beliefs and holding fast to traditional “Christian” doctrines, they are ever coming up short, thinking the Bible is saying one thing when, in actuality, it is saying something quite different, and often the very opposite of what they erroneously think it says!!!

Paul writes again, “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our (the truly anointed teachers’) glory, which none of the princes of this world knew…” (See I Corinthians 2:7-8). It is the “glory” of God’s duly selected and anointed teachers and representatives that they are able to discern God’s hidden mysteries, doctrines and revelation of truth whereas the “princes” of the world, those sporting lofty titles (reverend, most reverend, bishop, holy father, etc.) are unable to see what is quickly and easily revealed to God’s true servants. “But God has revealed them (these hidden truths) unto us (His teachers in the body of Christ) by His Spirit, for the Spirit searches ALL things, yea, the deep things of God” (verse 10).

The Spirit of God compels these teachers to study ALL the Word of God, reading again and again and again through the entirely of the Bible, illuminating and revealing the mighty truths of God as they so read and meditate therein. “For what man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knows no man but (by) the Spirit of God” (verse 11). Unless the Spirit of God is present, giving light and understanding to the human mind, someone can read the Bible from cover to cover a thousand times and still be unable to see what God has concealed there – a mystery kept secret from the beginning of the world! This is HOW teachers in the body of Christ know that this is their office, their function in the body of Christ. Truly anointed teachers of the Word are not mere religious folk. But they are as common a breed as you will ever find on earth, hailing from the most mundane and simple circumstances of life and upbringing. They are Satan’s greatest enemy, and, I assure you, he is their greatest opponent as well, hating every one of them with a passion for they are spoilers of his kingdom.

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

Donald Wiley

Those not acquainted with Israel’s ancient history, especially their being carried into captivity by both the Assyrian armies and later Babylon’s forces, and unfamiliar with the writings of Jeremiah as a whole, cannot comprehend some of the plain statements made by this prophet. Here are two of the most intriguing, yet superbly informative verses, in all of Jeremiah’s lengthy prophecies:

“Behold, I (God is speaking) will bring them (ancient Israel’s teeming masses) from the north country (Babylon, the place to which they had been forcibly taken into captivity and slavery), and gather them from the ends of the earth (Germany’s concentration camps, etc.), among them THE BLIND, and THE LAME, THE WOMAN WITH CHILD AND THE ONE WHO LABORS WITH CHILD, together (all resurrected simultaneously), a great throng shall return there (to their ancient homeland of Israel). They shall come (back from the dead) with weeping, and with supplications I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way in which they shall not stumble (the truth and the way to a right relationship with God made plain), for I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.” (Jeremiah 31:8-9).

Both the Assyrians and the Babylonians were noted for their cruelty to those they conquered. In modern Germany Jewish captives were delivered to the various concentration camps primarily by railroad. Ancient Assyria and Babylon had no such methods of transporting captured peoples. They were marched on foot from Israel to Assyria and Babylon – a distance of many hundreds of miles over rough terrain and through inhospitable territory. In order not to impede their progress, the Assyrians and Babylonians put to death THE BLIND, and THE LAME, THE WOMAN WITH CHILD AND THE ONE WHO LABORS WITH CHILD (the pregnant). God promised not only to bring back to Israel not only those taken captive to foreign lands but also to resurrect those put to death prior to their being marched out of Israel to Babylon and Assyria.

Jeremiah goes on to write: “Thus says the Lord, ‘A voice was heard in Ramah (a city in ancient Israel belonging to the tribe of Benjamin), lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel (a collective term meaning Israel’s mothers) weeping for her (slain) children, refusing to be comforted for her children, because they are no more” (Jeremiah 31:15). Now hear God’s comforting words to these distraught mothers: “Thus says the Lord, ‘Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for your work shall be rewarded,’ says the Lord, ‘and they (these slaughtered infants and children, as well as the unborn slain in their mother’s womb) SHALL COME BACK from the land of the enemy (the enemy here is death). There is hope in your future,’ says the Lord, that your children shall come back to their own border.” (verses 16 and 17, Jeremiah 31). The “work” of these mothers refers to their carrying these now slaughtered infants in their wombs for nine months and then feeding, clothing and caring for them in their infancy.

This is a prophecy yet to be fulfilled. God is yet going to resurrect all the Jewish people of all generations – even those who died as idolators and Christ-rejecters. Then, and only then, will God set His hand to enlighten them and reveal to them the truth of His great plan of the ages. The apostle Paul saw this truth clearly, writing of it in Romans, chapters 9, 10 and 11. He refers to it as God’s great mystery! “And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in (absorbed and integrated into the ever growing company of the redeemed), for God is able to graft them in again” (Romans 11:23). DON’T LIMIT GOD! God says “I kill, and I make alive” (See Deuteronomy 32:39). God can bring back to mortal existence the first humans who walked this earth as easily as He can bring back to life one who died only moments ago! God help you to understand. To be continued….

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

Donald Wiley

In his defense before Governor Felix in Caesarea, the apostle Paul said something very enlightening and revealing.  This is what he said: “But this I confess to you, that according to the way which they (the Jewish high priest and elders) call heresy, so I worship the God of my fathers, BELIEVING ALL THINGS WHICH ARE WRITTEN IN THE LAW AND IN THE PROPHETS” (See Acts 24:14).

Note well what Paul has just plainly declared.  In modern language Paul had said: “I believe the entirety of the Old Testament,” or “I believe the Hebrew scriptures from beginning to end.”

Had the high priest produced a scroll of the prophet Daniel and read these words from that scroll, “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt,” and then asked Paul, “Do you believe that?”  Paul would have answered, “Every single word!” (See Daniel 12:2).  Had the priest pressed him, asking, “Do you mean you think we children of God sleep in the dust of the earth awaiting a resurrection to be granted everlasting life at that moment?” Paul would have said, “That is what I believe and preach wherever I go.”

Had the priest then produced a scroll of the Psalms and read these words to Paul, “Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help.  His spirit departs, he returns to his earth, in that very day his thoughts perish,” and asked Paul, “Do you believe those words, also.”  Paul would have said, “Most certainly.”  Had the priest pressed him and asked, “Do you mean you believe one’s ability to think and form thoughts ceases when he dies?” Paul would have said, “That is exactly what happens and what I believe.”  (See Psalm 146:3-4).

Had the priest then produced a scroll of  the Old Testament book Ecclesiastes, and read these words, “For the living know that they shall die, BUT THE DEAD KNOW NOT ANYTHING,” and then asked Paul, “You agree that the dead know nothing, are truly dead and await a resurrection to life???”  Paul would have said, “You got it!”  (See Ecclesiastes 9:5)

Had the high priest thought, I will try one more text, and then produced a scroll of Genesis and read how God told Adam and Eve, “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return,” and asked Paul, “Is this your teaching, too?”  Paul would have said, “It most certainly is.”  (See Genesis 3:19).

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

Donald Wiley

First of all, when dealing with such matters as the resurrection and the like, there are a few scriptures that we need to keep in mind: 1) “With God ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!” (See Matthew 19:26) and 2) God created everything that exists out of nothing! He said, “Let there be light, and there was light!” We are dealing with a supernatural Being whose very word can bring worlds into existence.

Also, in considering those who have died, tens of thousands of Japanese citizens were vaporized when atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They weren’t merely cremated, they became a gaseous vapor in a millisecond after those bombs were detonated! That mushroom cloud one sees after a thermonuclear explosion is comprised of buildings, steel girders, railroad cars, asphalt roadways, concrete bridges and, yes, former human beings. That cloud then ascends miles upward into the stratosphere where the tradewinds carry it around the planet, depositing tiny, infinitesimal specks of ash into the oceans, onto the deserts, and, yes, into someone’s hair as they walk down the street five thousand miles from where the detonation occurred. Hence, the remains of a single individual so vaporized is strewn around the planet and quickly absorbed into the waters of the oceans and lakes, or mixed with the sands of some desert, and so on. Does this mean all hope of their being resurrected from the dead is gone? Of course not. As stated, “With God all things are possible!” God even asked one of his own prophets, “Is anything too hard for God?” The implication of that question being the answer, “Of course not.”

Millions of human bodies have been utterly and completely destroyed by being torn apart and EATEN by sharks, alligators, and a host of other wild animals. Thus, that human body is converted into muscle, bone, fur, excrement, etc. of the animal that has so consumed the unfortunate victim. When the remains of long sunken ships are discovered at the bottom of the ocean there are usually no human remains inside even though many of these vessels sank with all on board trapped deep inside the bowels of that ship. But, through passage of time, their bodies are utterly and completely consumed by various forms of sea life or the bacteria and various other elements found in both fresh and sea water.

In the 15th chapter of I Corinthians, the apostle Paul reminds us that what is placed in the grave is NOT what will be resurrected at the return of the Lord. He uses the analogy of how one plants a tiny seed in the ground, perhaps seed corn, but what comes forth out of the earth some time later is not that same seed but a marvelous corn stalk six feet high with a dozen or more golden ears of corn wrapped in green leaves and with a silky tassel attached at the end! He then says, so it is with the dead. A lifeless, corrupting, powerless body is interred in the earth, but an incorruptible, glorious, spirit body is brought forth at the last trump and the resurrection of the dead. (See I Corinthians 15:35-58). Of course, I speak of only the manner of resurrection enjoyed by redeemed children of God.

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

Donald Wiley

In his letter to Titus Paul speaks of “the truth which is after godliness” (See Titus 1:1). Other translations have “the truth which leads to godliness,” “the truth that is according to godliness,” and “the truth that is in keeping with godliness.”

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness, we should liver soberly, righteously, and godly IN THIS PRESENT WORLD” (Titus 2:11-12). Yes, the true grace of God teaches us something – that we should live righteous, holy lives IN THE HERE AN NOW!

Listen, if you ever hear a doctrine or teaching that if believed and followed would tend to cause you to let up in your daily striving to abandon all sin and live a holy, righteous life day by day in this modern, neon-lit, work-a-day world, YOU ARE BEING DECEIVED!

“God has not given us the spirit of fear (of failure), but of POWER!” (See 2 Timothy 1:7). Don’t expect to fail in your pursuit of true righteousness and victory. Expect to win, to conquer, to succeed, and to bring glory to your Lord thereby. If truly converted, you have the powerful Holy Spirit abiding in you nudging, prompting and leading you on to victory after victory. If you find this not to be the case in your life, then “examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith (truly converted, having God’s Spirit). Prove your own selves. (Take the magnifying glass off the other guy). Know you not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is IN you, except you be reprobates” (2 Corinthians 13:5). And Jesus Christ IN you or anyone else is going to swiftly bring forth a righteous and holy lifestyle.

I, myself, was falsely converted for many decades, thinking I was an heir of eternal life when in reality I was a prime candidate for suffering the second death! One small verse in Jeremiah 29 opened my eyes wide and brought me into a valid relationship with my Creator “And yo shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me WITH ALL YOUR HEART” (verse 13). That’s where my search ended and my new life began. May God grant you understanding in all things is my prayer.

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

Donald Wiley

The doctrine stated: “And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks unto you as unto children, ‘My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked of him, for whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons, for what son is he whom the father chastens not? But if ye be without chastisement (discipline), whereof all (children of God) are partakers then are you bastards (illegitimate children, not truly converted), and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence (respect), shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits and live? For they truly for a few days (the days of our childhood) chastened us after their own pleasure (as they saw fit), but he for our profit (as God’s judgment is always perfect and totally appropriate), that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyful, but grievous, nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised (profited) thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord, looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God….” (See Hebrews 12:5-15).

Many have ignored the fact that when God chastens a believer there are two possible outcomes, not just one! There are two dangers with respect to the Father’s chastening: 1) To be without it, and 2) To refuse His correction. Notice the solemn warning given in that 15th verse of Hebrews 12 once again, “Looking diligently LEST ANY MAN FAIL OF THE GRACE OF GOD…..” We fail to benefit from the grace of God when we choose to ignore or reject God’s overtures toward us, when we find some sin more attractive than God’s fellowship! “Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell severity (was shown), but toward you goodness , IF you continue in His goodness, otherwise you also shall be cut off” (Romans 11:22). Paul thundered that warning in writing to the Roman believers as some of them evidently thought the believer was secure in Jesus Christ regardless of how they lived or ignored God’s counsel. “Once in grace, always in grace” had surfaced among those even in the first beginnings of the church of God. “See that you refuse not Him that speaks. For if they escaped not who refused him that spoke on earth (Moses), MUCH MORE SHALL WE (New Covenant believers) NOT ESCAPE if we turn away from Him that speaks from heaven” (Hebrews 12:25). God help you to understand.

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

Donald Wiley

“Our old man (the former you) is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be DESTROYED, that henceforth we should not serve sin, for he that is dead is FREED FROM SIN!” (Romans 6:6-7).  At the moment of our justification, when we confess Jesus as our Lord and are baptized into full fellowship with Him and His church, the shackles of sin’s enslavement fall off of us.  Jesus Christ then points to the cell’s open door and commands, “Go, and sin no more!”  As with father Abraham, we consider not our own body with its’ desires and lusts.  We consider God’s strength and promises.  We then begin reigning in life by Jesus Christ.  (See Romans 4:18-22 and Romans 5:17).

“How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?” (Romans 6:2).  Or are you a live wire when confronted with some temptation to sin? 

Paul goes on to say, “we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4), a life of holiness and peace – peace with God and our fellow man.  “Knowing this that our old man (the former you) is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed…for he that is dead is freed from sin” (See Romans 6:6-7).  Are you freed from sin?  Paul says all that are united with Jesus Christ are now freed from sin – not will be, not hope to be, but are freed from sin’s power right now in the present moment.

In Romans 7 Paul is not describing his own struggles and failure.  He says he is speaking after the manner of men, defeated men at that, because of the infirmity of THEIR flesh, informing them that they have made the common mistake of yielding to the pulls of the flesh.  (See Romans 6:19).  He then describes THEIR problem in Romans 7.  Those who use Romans 7 to excuse their sin, believing Paul is describing himself in Romans 7 are grossly deceived.  It matters not what lofty titles they may enoy, or how many books they have written, or how huge may be their congregations!  In this matte they are deceived.  To be continued….

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

Donald Wiley

Love can build a bridge between you and our Lord.  His love has been extended to us from eternity past.  And THIS is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous.

Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.  Our Lord did that for us at Calvary.  We owe Him a debt that we can never repay.  We owe Him our very best service.

The longer I live, the more and more convinced I become that I am going to live a very long life.  All healings are not instantaneous.  Elisabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, was barren for many decades before the Lord healed her womb and gave her a son.  We must not throw in the towel and assume the Lord is not going to heal us of some disease or physical ailment simply because several years, or even many years, have gone by and still we are not healed.  We forsake our own mercy when we do that.

Still, as with Paul, some afflictions are not healed as the Lord uses such to perfect our faith and trust.  Still grace is extended to us to endure our trials and afflictions.  As the old hymn says, “He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater.”

Let us all so conduct ourselves that when the angels look upon us they do so in admiration and awe.

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

Donald Wiley