Bible Doctrine

Scientists say there are 5,416 mammal species on earth, about 10,000 reptile species and 10,000 bird species.  Various fish species are estimated at about 15,304.  And insects?  Well, some scientists give a low number of 91,000 while others give a remarkably higher number of 950,000. How about flowering plant species?  Would you believe 400,000 approximately?

My point?  Are we to believe that the great creative eternal God of the universe brought forth in measurable time all those differing species on this one planet, yet, in the heavenlies, there are only a handful of differing species, to-wit, God, the angels, the cherubim and seraphim, and a couple of other spirit beings mentioned in the book of Revelation?  Existing and working through all of eternity past, that’s all God produced?  I truly believe that when we enter into the heavenly kingdom ourselves we will discover countless different and awesome spirit beings: thousands upon thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand.

I don’t want to miss out on that.  I want to be of that number to whom God says, “Enter into the joy of your Lord.  All of this is yours!”

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

Donald Wiley

“Jesus paid it all.  All to Him I owe.  Sin had left a crimson stain.  He washed it white as snow.”  We owed a bill.  It was a bill we could not pay.  Jesus paid that bill for us on the cross, and He paid that bill in full, but He didn’t just pay the bill.  He left a tip.  What was that tip?  After paying our bill He generously imparted to those of us who truly repented the Holy Spirit of God, the Spirit that had filled and influenced Him all the days of His earthly existence.  We now had the power to make certain we did not go into debt ever again.  And He didn’t stop there.  Just in case we slipped, forgot, even intentionally racked up another debt, He left a sufficient amount in that huge tip that would again cover any future debt we might incur.  We could then forget about the debt regardless of how great it had been.  God the Father, in the red crimson ink of His beloved Son’s blood, stamped on the bill “PAID IN FULL.”

How can I help but be devoted daily, hourly, to such a One who has graciously given me the light and understanding of this and many more great truths?  I will serve Him as best I can until I draw my last breath.  How many will I convince or change by what I write?  I do not know.  As I said before, perhaps one day in eternity the Lord will say to me “Don, you made a difference.”  And when I ask, “With how many, Lord?”  He might well reply, “With one, Don.  Just one.”  And with that answer I will then say, “Then I did not live in vain, Lord, did I?”  And I would hope He would say, “No, Don, you did not live in vain.”

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

Donald Wiley

In the 12th and final chapter of Daniel, a heavenly messenger angel is speaking to Daniel and says, “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book (containing the message just delivered to Daniel by this messenger angel), EVEN TO THE TIME OF THE END…” (verse 4). This angel is also emphatic and repeats himself in verse 9, saying to Daniel, “Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed TILL THE TIME OF THE END.” The “words” to which this angel refers begin with verse 2 of Daniel 11. All one need do is read the 45 verses of chapter 11. The reader will find himself, or herself, quickly bogged down in trying to discern just what is being said in these 45 verses and will find that they definitely do appear to be undecipherable at this time.

If the reader possesses some degree of knowledge of ancient history, especially as it relates to Israel and the nations of the ancient world extant in Daniel’s day and age, then that reader will find that a dozen or so of the opening verses of that chapter can be deciphered to a fair degree of accuracy. But the reader will then find that the final dozen or so verses of Daniel 11 are not all that clear. Although a few of these verses will seem comprehensible, most will present a puzzle to the inquirer. And then, if one continues reading into and all the way through the short 13 verses that comprise the 12th and final chapter of Daniel, the reader will find the final three verses of that chapter are also undecipherable at this present time.

In the middle of the 1800’s there were some supposed Bible scholars who thought they understood the prophecies contained in Daniel 11 and 12 and, at that time, declared that it was THEN – in the 1800’s – the time of the end. But they lived out their human life spans and died. Another century passed with more and more Bible “scholars” teaching Jesus Christ’s return was imminent. Still the end had not come. We then entered well into the 21st Century, almost a full quarter of this century having now elapsed. Still the end has not come. For several generations now there have been those who have declared emphatically that THIS is the time of the end. Still with each passing decade more and more such “scholars” finish their life course and die and the end of the age has not come.

I will agree that we ARE living near the close of an age, that Jesus Christ’s return to this planet is much closer now than it was in the 1800’s or 20th Century, but if one reads the book of Revelation as well as Jesus Christ’s Olivet Prophecy (see Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21) with a truly open mind, it should dawn on them that there is much prophecy yet to be fulfilled prior to Christ’s return, especially if one reads carefully both the major and minor prophets. Also, the apostle Paul makes it very clear in 2 Thessalonians, Chapter 2 that two events MUST occur Jesus Christ can return: 1) There must be a great falling away from Christianity first, and 2) The “man of sin” must be revealed as such by his taking up residence in a newly built temple, a literal temple that the prophet Zechariah declares will be standing when Jesus returns.  (See Zechariah 14).

There are many books available that were penned by Christian theologians, teachers and preachers and the like, dating back into the 1700’s wherein these writers speak of and expound upon Bible prophecy as it relates to the time of Christ’s Second Coming. Almost every one of them felt certain that Jesus Christ would return during their own lifetime. Yet they all lived out their life spans, some quite lengthy, and died. It seems to be an incurable delusion of the average believer that Jesus will return in his or her own lifetime.

Folks, we’re in for the long haul, so to speak. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself on your deathbed and also find that Jesus Christ has still not returned. Oh, He WILL return, but it might well be to a generation in which this present generation has not one member still living when that blessed event occurs. Think on these things.

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

Donald Wiley

Those who say they don’t get their doctrine out of the Hebrew scriptures, I wonder where they get their beliefs about creation and a host of other Bible subjects???? Many fail to realize that the Psalms are not just songs chanted by the faithful Jews at the tabernacle, later the temple, and, later yet, in the synagogues. The Psalms contain much doctrinal teaching. If you have a Bible with marginal references, you will notice that the apostles, as well as Jesus, often cite the Psalms in teaching New Covenant doctrine.

One “eye-opener” Psalm that clearly indicates that there was a RE-creation of this earth and that there was a previous creation to the one we are now a part of is the 104th Psalm, verses 24 through 35: “O Lord, how manifold are your works (God didn’t just get into the creating business a few thousand years ago)! In wisdom have you made them all: the earth is full of your riches” (verse 24). And let me pause right there and get my reader to think for a moment – one of my favorite exercises now, THINKING! Those who say God created the universe 6000 years ago, or thereabouts. What do you think God was doing 7000 years ago, or 10,000 years ago, or a trillion trillion years ago. After all He IS eternal. Go back in time as far as human mind can contemplate, even zillions of years ago. God was there! What do you think this great creator God, this super-productive thinker was doing. Do you really think He was just sitting on a bare throne in the voids of empty space twiddling His giant thumbs, scratching His chin, engulfed in mind-boggling divine boredom??!! And then, finally, just 6000 short years ago, He thought, “I’ve got it! I’ll create something. Look at all this empty space I’ve got. I need to put something in it.”

Well, enough of that musing. Let’s continue with verse 25 of Psalm 104. “So is this great and wide sea (full of God’s riches – continuing the thought of verse 24), wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.” Now how could this Psalmist know that the oceans were teeming with countless life forms and species?? “There go the ships, there is that leviathan (any large sea creature – whales, giant squid, etc.), whom you have made to play therein. (Ever notice the cavorting of whales, porpoises, etc. This Psalmist probably never had. He speaks under divine inspiration). These wait all upon you; that you may give them their meat in due season. That you give them they gather. you open your hand, they are filled with good. You hide your face, they are troubled: you take away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. You send forth your Spirit, they are created (actually re-created), and you renew the face of the earth” (verse 26 through 30). Did you get those last two sentences? It speaks of a creation – a creation without human beings – that God, for whatever reason – killed off. There then is a RENEWING of the face of the earth. Genesis 1 speaks of this renewing in the first two verses, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” (verse 1). And not the slightest indication is given as to just when God did this. Was it a few thousand years ago? Hundreds of thousands? Millions? We just don’t know. Continuing with verse 2, “And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Jewish scholars at the beginning of the 2nd Century wrote the Targum of Onkelos, the earliest of the Aramaic versions of the Old Testament, and translated Genesis 1:2, “And the earth was laid waste.”

Dr. Arthur Custance, after consulting over 300 commentaries on Genesis, concluded the best translation of Genesis 1:2 to be “But the earth had become a ruin, and a desolation.”

“And the earth was without form and void” is a translation of the Hebrew words tohu and bohu, meaning chaotic and confused. In all likelihood, this refers to the time of Satan’s rebellion when he was cast out of heaven to this earth! (See Isaiah 14:12-14 and Ezekiel 28:11-18). Something to think about.

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

Donald Wiley

THE CREATIONIST’S QUANDARY!

I firmly believe that this earth was re-created in seven literal days. After all the sacred record does state that these “days” had a morning and an evening. It says God hallowed the seventh day – the sabbath. It, too, had a morning and an evening. We don’t keep holy a thousand year period of time. We keep holy the time God MADE holy, the seventh day – a 24 hour period of time. At least we are commanded to keep that period of time holy, reserved for fellowship with our Creator and fellow believers. I say the earth was RE-created in Genesis One due to the wording of the opening verses of that chapter as well as several other scripture passages that provide greater more in-depth revelation regarding this topic.

When, in verse 1 of Genesis 1, it says, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth”, we are given no indication in the text as to WHEN the beginning was. I believe, and I am not alone in this belief, that beginning point of creation of the physical world could date back millions, yes, even billions of years! If someone tells you the coat they are wearing is brand new, manufactured only the week before and purchased at a factory outlet store, yet you notice the elbows are worn and threadbare and that the cut and design of the coat was of a style worn a good twenty to thirty years before, then you realize the wearer of the coat is a kook, a liar, mistaken, under the influence of some controlled substance, has been licking frogs, or something. You realize the coat just has to be older than the wearer claims. So, too, with this universe, when you calculate a star’s distance and the speed of light, and realize the light from that star that you now see had to have left that star millions of years ago, then you gotta admit the six thousand year age for the universe has its problems. A lot of them.

More than one Hebrew scholar has contended that the King James rendering of verse 2 in Genesis 1 is not quite accurate, and that verse should be worded: “And the earth BECAME chaotic and confused, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” These same scholars have proposed the idea that it was at this juncture of time that Lucifer rebelled and a titanic battle ensued wrecking and ruining an earlier creation. Several Bible passages lend weight to this argument.  More Bible students need to begin reading their Bibles slowly and carefully, realizing that being human they might be wrong in some of what they believe.

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

Donald Wiley

The apostle Paul says something about Abraham in Romans 4 that we all would do well to hear and understand.  He says, in Romans 4:18, that Abraham against hope believed in what was spoken to him by God.  Abraham did not look at the physical, what he could see.  He looked at the invisible, what was told him by God.  When my oncologist told me some two-and-a-half years ago that I had cancer, it was pointless for him to show me the laboratory findings, the biopsy results or blood work.  I do not look at the physical evidence.  I listen to God’s Word.  If God says, “whatsoever you shall ask in prayer believing, you shall have,” I  believe Him.  When God says, “and whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight,” I believe Him.  (See I John 3:22 and John 14:13-14 and John 15:7).  My faith is no different than the faith of father Abraham.  We both believe and trust in the same Almighty God.

“And being not weak in faith, he (Abraham) considered not his own body now (as good as) dead,when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb (as she was ninety).  He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what He had promised, He was able also to perform…..Now it was not written for his sake alone….but for us also” (See Romans 4:19-24).

Faithful sons and daughters of the Most High, descendants of Abraham, need not be staggered by the CAT scan, the laboratory findings, the x-rays, the blood work, or the physician’s dire findings.  Unless God has decreed that one’s life course is at its end then we can give glory to God by trusting Him to raise us up and grant us more years of good health and life.

“Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham!” (Galatians 3:7).  The apostle to the Gentiles wrote those words to Gentiles.  “So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham” (Galatians 3:9).  And, like our father Abraham, we are not staggered at the promise of God to give us whatsoever we ask if we are walking in the same obedient steps of our ancient father.  We KNOW we have the petitions that we desire of God through the goodness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Comfort one another with these words.

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

Donald Wiley

• You know that is what Jesus Christ could have said that day long ago when He stood outside the tomb of the recently deceased Lazarus, and said, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps.”  (See John 11:11).  He could have said, “The Aztecss sleep!”  The Mayan civilization of Mesoamerica dates back to roughly two thousand years before the time of Christ!  Of course, He could also have said, “the Babylonians sleep,” or “the ancient pharaohs of Egypt sleep.”  And today someone could quite scripturally say, “The Aztecs sleep,” or “My grandparents sleep.”
  Haven’t you ever homed in on the Bible language that is used when one of its writers refers to the dead?  “So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David” (See I Kings 12:10).  “And Joash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat upon his throne” (See 2 Kings 13:`13).  “And they stoned Stephen (as he was) calling upon God, and saying, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’  And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, ‘Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.’  And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” (See Acts 7:59-60).
• Many preachers today seem to think that 60th verse would be better translated, “And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, ‘Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.’  And when he had said this he went to be with Jesus,” or “he went on to glory,” or “he then went to heaven.” Have you ever noticed that when the Bible speaks of the dead it uses but one of two terms, saying they are either dead or asleep?  This is true with all of the prophets, who speak of the dead, as well as all of the writing apostles, who mention the dead, as well as being true of Jesus Christ Himself when He refers to the dead.  No other terminology is ever used.  The inspired writers of scripture say that they are either “dead” or “asleep.”If one is more vibrantly alive immediately after they breathe their last breath than they ever were while alive in the flesh, why does the Holy Spirit consistently and always inspire the bible writers to refer to them as being A) dead, or B) asleep???  Rather curious, wouldn’t you say?  To be continued……
• Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
• Donald Wiley

Reader, let me assure you of one thing, one truth you can take to the bank, so to speak.  Listen, ten thousand Einsteins putting their heads together in a great round-table discussion for ten thousand years could not come up with a better plan of salvation than God, a plan that is understood by precious few in this era.  Before uttering the words, “Let us make man in our image, and after our likeness,” God, Jesus Christ and His holy messenger angels consider every single possible hindrance, difficulty, impediment, etc., that could even remotely place even one single solitary human being at a disadvantage for obtaining eternal life and immortality!  “What if they don’t have Bibles?  What if they live and die in separated lands on the other side of earth from Israel and God’s prophets and apostles?  What if they are born into cultures embracing rank paganism and utterly unaware of the true God, His Word and plan to save them?  What if someone has parents who are rank atheists?  What if they are born into abject slavery in ancient Egypt, China or Africa centuries before Jesus’ earthly ministry and crucifixion?  What if someone is born deaf, dumb and blind?  Any and every impediment possible was duly considered and provision was made for overcoming the same . 

eader, let me assure you of this fact: NO ONE will ever have cause to stand in front of Jesus Christ at the judgment and honestly argue: “I was never given the opportunity to be saved and granted eternal life.  I never even heard you existed!  I never even knew eternal life was a possibility for human beings!” And no one can see and understand what I am saying and WHY I am saying it who rejects the light and understanding given by God through the Hebrew Scriptures as it is within those pages of Holy Writ primarily that the Most High God fleshes out the truth in this most important matter.  God assures His faithful sons and daughters that He has a sense of fair play you cannot imagine.  “Are not my ways equal?” He asks in Ezekiel 18:29.  When Abraham said, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” it was because he was the first of God’s prophets to really have a comprehension of God’s plan of the ages.  Many preachers have been deceived into believing that the Great Creator God brings billions of humans into existence and gives only comparatively few an opportunity to gain eternal life, consigning millions and millions of blinded, ignorant, deceived humans to burn in hell with no chance of escape.  Deceived teachers retort, “Well, if someone is seeking God then God will get the truth to them so that they can be saved.”  They ignore, probably have never even considered the scriptures that clearly state, “There is NONE that seeks after God – NO NOT ONE!”  God MUST seek us.  We are cut off from Him and born onto a planet where God Himself says Satan deceives the world, is the god of this present evil world, and hinders the operation of God. 

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

Donald Wiley

You have probably heard of it.  It is called the domino effect.  The domino effect is when one event triggers another event, which in turn triggers even yet another event, and so on.  Satan is well aware of this phenomenon.  He knows that if he can dupe someone into believing one lie, especially concerning a very basic doctrine of scripture, then there will be a rippling, or cascading effect, and will lead that person so duped into accepting another lie and another and another.  For instance, when God informed Adam and Eve that they were mortal and subject to death, Satan immediately contradicted God, informing Eve, “You will not surely die.”  He convinced her only her body would die and that she would live on forever and ever.  It was the introduction of that lie to mankind that allowed Satan then to perpetrate a host of other lies, for if death didn’t end all apart from a resurrection of the dead, then Satan could introduce belief in ghosts, seances, communication with the dead through mediums, the soul going to heaven when one dies, or to hell, or limbo, or purgatory.  He could then introduce prayers both to and for the dead.  The domino effect took hold and allowed Satan to introduce many other false beliefs.

God, their Creator, told Adam and Eve in no uncertain terms, “Thou shalt surely die!” (See Genesis 2;17).  Satan flatly contradicts the Creator, informing Eve, “You shall not surely die” (See Genesis 3:4).  He further informed her, “You shall be as gods” – immortal, eternal, just like your Creator!  (See Genesis 3:5).  God informs Adam and Eve, “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (See Genesis 3:19).  Satan lies to Adam and Eve informing them that they possess an immortal soul.  Yet scripture plainly says, “And the Lord God formed man OF THE DUST OF THE GROUND (purely physical elements), and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (not immortal spirit), and man BECAME a living soul” (See Genesis 2:7).  Note well, scripture says we ARE living souls, not that we have immortal souls residing somewhere within us that survive us and live on somewhere after we die.  The term “soul” in the Genesis text is a translation of the Hebrew word “nephesh,” that word meaning simply a living, breathing creature!  That term, nephesh, is used for lower life forms.  Genesis 1:21 and 24 contain this same Hebrew word nephesh and is there translated as “living creatures” found in the sea and various other land creatures.  The King James translators would have gone a long way in stopping error had they correctly translated the Hebrew nephesh in Genesis 2:7, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living creature” – no longer a lifeless, inanimate body lying on the ground!

Nowhere does the Bible ever use the term “immortal soul.”  Such is a contradiction in terms such as “a living corpse,” or a “singing mute.”  The Bible uses the term “immortal” only one time, speaking of God being “immortal, eternal, invisible” (See 1 Timothy 1:17).  In 1 Timothy 6:16, we are told that of all born human Jesus alone has immortality.  (See I Timothy 6:16).  The term “immortality” is found only four more times in the Bible, all instances in the New Testament, and states clearly that immortality is something that has been brought to light by the gospel, something to be sought for by submission to Jesus Christ, or something that we will inherit at the time of the resurrection of faithful believers from the dead.  (See Romans 2:7; 2 Timothy 1:10 and I Corinthians 15:53-54).

Belief in the immortality of the soul has also caused men to believe that there are billions and billions of “souls” in hell right now, writhing and suffering in indescribable torment.  If one dies “without Christ” they can’t go to heaven.  There is but one other destination for their “souls.”  They must immediately go to hell.  At least that is the common belief of many professing Christians.  Of course, if they die as infants or as little children, boy, are they lucky.  All such go immediately to heaven and are safe in the arms of Jesus.  Live but a few years longer and die in their teens or later and, you got it, they go to hell and burn forever and ever.

Satan is a master at his craft – the art of deception.  Your Bible warns that he deceives “the whole world.”  (See Revelation 12:9).  He is assisted in his work of deception by many “preachers” who themselves are woefully ignorant of God’s Word, many of them spurning the revelation given by God in the Hebrew scriptures, proclaiming loudly, “I don’t get my doctrine out of the Old Testament” with emphasis on the word “old” as though the Hebrew scriptures belong on the dust pile of history.  Satan is further assisted in his work of deception by Christians who fail to really “prove” all their beliefs, but instead simply gullibly accept and swallow whatever they are spoon-fed from the pulpit of their respective churches.  “If the preacher said it, I believe it” seems to be their mindset.

But didn’t Enoch and Elijah both go to heaven without dying?  Isn’t Moses there, too?  Didn’t Lazarus go to heaven when he died, and didn’t the “rich man” go immediately to hell to be forever tormented in its flames?  And how about the prophet Samuel, wasn’t he brought up from the dead by the Witch of Endor?  And how about the “souls under the altar” spoken of in Revelation 6:9?  Aren’t they stuffed under there right now, crying out to God for vengeance?  Folks, if you don’t read your Bibles and allow the Holy Spirit to guide you into putting it all together, comparing scripture with scripture, looking at the context carefully, and even examining the original Hebrew and Greek in some instances, you are going to have some of the weirdest beliefs human mind can entertain.  And, by the way, don’t try to get it right while continuing to walk in disobedience to God and His commandments.  It ain’t happening.  You will be as confused on your deathbed as you are right now.  God made it very clear through His prophet Daniel that one must turn from their sins in order to understand the great truths of God.  (See Daniel 9:13).  Then one must search the scriptures diligently – all of them, Hebrew and Greek scriptures – and allow those inspired scriptures to sweep all error from the mind and memory, replacing the same with divine truth.  Precious few follow that course.  Hence, precious few really have and know the truth.

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

Donald Wiley