Bible Doctrine

Look about you! Do you really think you are witnessing God’s best efforts to save the world? Think of it: only a tiny minority in any given era have been afforded the opportunity of hearing and accepting or rejecting the gospel message. And is God using his best efforts to get that message to humanity through a few dozen priests, six or eight young Mormon missionaries, a few Baptists, some Jehovah’s Witnesses and a smattering of missionaries from a couple dozen other denominations entering a region of earth like Laos, or Cambodia, or Vietnam a century, or so, ago?

Most of humanity live out their short lifespans and die with no knowledge whatsoever of Jesus Christ and His sacrificial death on Calvary! Yet scripture assures us that Jesus did “taste death for every man” (Hebrews 2:9 and 2 Timothy 4:10). The apostle Paul flatly declared, “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (2 Timothy 2:15). Did He come to save some sinners or all sinners? Why taste death for all if only a tiny minority would ever even have knowledge of the offer of salvation?

Rather confusing, isn’t it? Of course God is not the author of confusion – Satan is. (See I Corinthians 14:33). Satan knows that God “desires ALL men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (See I Timothy 2:4). He, therefore, works diligently to thwart the plan of God. But God cannot be out-smarted. There is no real contest being waged between God and Satan. God could snap His fingers and Satan would be reduced to a bit of ash at His feet in a millisecond. Remember, God alone is truly wise. (See I Timothy 1:17). He is “Lord of the harvest” of salvation. (See Matthew 9:35). He knows exactly what He is doing, and He has appointed Jesus Christ to be the Captain of our salvation. (See Hebrews 2:10). And God is permitting Satan to maintain the role he now plays on the earthly stage for a good and wise purpose and reason.

Few seem to understand that God is working out the plan of the salvation of mankind according to a time-table and in successive stages. And He is right on schedule with that God created plan. In I Timothy, chapter 2, we read this clear declaration: “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for ALL, TO BE TESTIFIED (TO ALL) IN DUE TIME.” (Verses 5 and 6).

Yes, there is a due, proper time for all who have ever lived or ever will live to hear about Jesus Christ’s atoning work accomplished in ancient Judea nearly two thousand years ago. In fact, your Bible clearly states that one must reject Christ in order to be eternally lost! Jesus Christ Himself plainly declared, “If you do not believe that I am He (the Savior of the world), you will die in your sins” (John 8:24). Jesus Christ told the hypocritical Pharisees, “If you were (spiritually) blind, you would have no sin…” (John 9:41).

Satan has deceived humanity, even many professing Christians, into believing that there are but two categories or classes of humans recognized by scripture – the saved and the lost. There are actually THREE classes. And it is that third largely forgotten class that contains the overwhelming majority of father Adam’s posterity. That is the class, or category, of the “uncalled.” These people are not saved as they have never accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior – billions of them lived and died never even hearing of any such Person! But neither are they irrevocably lost as they have not rejected Him either. They are “lost” only in the sense that they are not now saved

“This is the condemnation (this is what condemns) that light has come into the world and MEN LOVED DARKNESS RATHER THAN LIGHT…” (John 3:19). Yes, it is only when people are given an intelligent choice – a choice between light and darkness, truth and error, an acceptance of Christ’s sacrifice or rejection of the same, then, and only then, do they stand eternally condemned before God and have their sins irrevocably charged against them. Then, and only then, do they become irrevocably LOST!

Speaking of the people of His own generation, Jesus said, “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin” (John 15:22). Members of the human family stand before God without excuse for rejecting the way, the truth and life only when they have the truth clearly presented to their minds by one of our Lord’s anointed spokesmen who know that truth and can plainly present it to their fellow human beings.

It is a true saying that no one can get to hell without going around Mt. Calvary, or the cross. The cross stands directly in the way. God’s indignation and wrath are reserved for those who “do not obey the truth” (See Romans 2:8). They, of course, have to first be aware of the truth in order to disobey the same.

To the Corinthian believers, Paul wrote, “For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh (scientists, college professors, the world’s intelligentsia), not many mighty (various and sundry celebrities in every field of human endeavor), not many noble (the royal families of earthly nations, the aristocrats) ARE CALLED (to salvation)” (I Corinthians 1:26). God TEMPORARILY passes over such in drawing men and women to salvation, knowing that they are at a grave disadvantage and would not be open to such a call. And if God doesn’t “call” one to salvation by convicting them of sin and enlightening them to the truth about Jesus Christ, then it is absolutely impossible for such a person to be saved! (John 16:7-12). Yet, remember, scripture is clear on this point, God intensely “desires ALL men (all mankind) to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (I Timothy 2:4).

For thousands of years God dealt solely with the nation of Israel. To them, He plainly declared, “You ONLY have I known of all the families of the earth” (Amos 3:2). Again, the Psalmist writes, “He (God) declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and his judgments to Israel (Jacob and Israel, of course, being one and the same). He has not dealt thus with any (other) nation, and as for His judgments, they have not known them” (Psalm 147:19-20). Such texts as these, and several others, must be duly considered when reading Romans 1, and Paul does not reveal who he is speaking of in Romans 1 until one reads down to Romans 2:17!

Think of it! Millions of human beings lived and died CUT OFF from any knowledge of the one true God. The Shang Dynasty of China ruled from about 1700 to 1100 B.C. Peru’s Paracas culture thrived between about 1000 and 100 B.C. In these two cultures alone you have millions of human beings living and dying centuries before Christ appeared on the scene. Have they no hope of eternal life? As the apostle Paul so aptly put it: “How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher (one anointed of God with the truth)? And how shall they preach unless they are sent (by God Himself, NOT by some humanly devised “mission board”)?” (See Romans 10:14-15). The answer is obvious, isn’t it? ISN’T IT?

How would you like to have been born the son or daughter of a Chinese couple in the year 1500 B.C.? Are you so blind or scripturally ignorant as to think such circumstances would automatically and quite effectively deny you entrance into the eternal kingdom of God? Don’t you realize that such reasoning would make a monster out of our Creator? God would also be proven to be a liar! Howso? Because your Bible says, “Therefore, as through one man’s offense (Adam’s offense) judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one man’s (Christ’s) righteous act the free gift came TO ALL MEN, resulting in justification to life” (Romans 5:18).

Now, if words mean anything, that scripture clearly says that the same all who were made sinners through kinship to Adam will have a chance to find justification through Jesus Christ.

Again, Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers, “for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all (that same all) shall be made (potentially) alive” (I Corinthians 15:22). Truly God is “not willing that any should perish, but that ALL should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Well, scripture declares that it is God who grants repentance. God is “running the show,” so to speak, and He is doing a grand and wonderful job at it even though few comprehend just how He is doing this.

And, remember, “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11). God will not afford a white, English-speaking citizen of modern-day America a better shot at eternal life than that granted a yellow-skinned Chinese peasant who lived, suffered and died many centuries before Christ! And God forbid that any child of God should think – even for a moment – that BILLIONS of such unfortunate human beings are denied any chance at all.

2 Corinthians 5:19 says, “God was in Christ reconciling THE WORLD to Himself.” Yes, reconciling THE WORLD – that would include the ancient Chinese, the Babylonians, the Assyrians – and any other human beings you care to name of any previous century living in any country or nation you care to name, also.

You see, “Known to God from eternity are all His works” (See Acts 15:18). God had all of eternity past to devise and think out a fail-safe, perfect plan that would grant every single human being who would ever be born a marvelous, unmistakable opportunity to take full advantage of God’s offer to join His great spirit family and live forever and ever and ever. Satan did not take God by surprise in the Garden of Eden. He didn’t sneak in the back way while God was preoccupied with some other matter. NOTHING can be hidden from God. The light and the darkness are the same to Him. A tiny sparrow cannot fall from its nest without His notice! Nor did Lucifer dumbfound the Most High when he thought he could contest His rule. God is not playing some hit or miss game of chance with human lives here below. Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him…” (John 6:44). It is quite obvious that the Father has made no attempt to draw entire nations of men to Himself through Jesus Christ. For many long centuries Japan, Korea, and many other nations had not one single Christian missionary enter their borders with the good news of salvation and the offer of eternal life for their citizens. Those ignorant of the scriptures, especially the Hebrew scriptures – commonly called the Old Testament – believe such people, consisting of billions of human beings, died forever lost, having had no chance or opportunity to inherit eternal life. How absurd!

God knows exactly what He is doing with the human family. And in His great and awesome wisdom He has taken into account every conceivable obstacle one might encounter that could even remotely hamper his or her chances of becoming a member of the family of God.

There is a California winery that boasts, “We will sell no wine before its time.” Well, scripture clearly affirms that God will call no one to salvation before their appointed and most opportune time. (See Acts 17). Few have seemed to notice the implications of a passage of scripture found in the 16th chapter of Acts: “Now when they (Paul and his companions) had gone over Phrygia and the region of Galatia, THEY WERE FORBIDDEN BY THE HOLY SPIRIT TO PREACH THE WORD IN ASIA. After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them” (verses 6 and 7).

Who denied, who prevented the gospel message from being preached and presented in the Roman province of Asia Minor at that time? Was it Satan? NO! It was God – the Master of the harvest of salvation. Read that text again. It says that the Holy Spirit would not allow Paul and his companions to preach the word of God in Asia at that time. Death did not take a holiday then. Those people still died daily having no knowledge of Christ’s sacrificial death and God’s offer of eternal life through submission to His Son – mankind’s Savior!

For many long centuries God sent no prophets, preachers, or ministers to ANY Gentile nation. Think of it! Millions and millions of human beings were cut off from God. God made not the slightest effort to reach them – THEN! Yet God’s Word affirms, “And ALL FLESH shall see the salvation of God” (Luke 3:6). And, again, “ALL flesh shall come to worship before me, says the Lord” (Isaiah 66:23).

Why can’t we break free of our preconceived ideas and long cherished beliefs and accept what God has to say in these matters?

In Part 2 of this article we will look at just HOW God intends to give such people as the long-dead ancient Chinese and others their fair opportunity at salvation.

WARNING: Long held, preconceived ideas and beliefs color the thinking of many believers, thus effectively preventing them from seeing or accepting anything contrary to their present body of beliefs. They are 100% certain they already have and know God’s truth in these all-important matters. They can quote verses of scripture that seemingly support their doctrinal stand. It never dawns on them that they might have overlooked a host of other critically important texts that speak to this subject. Perhaps, my friend, you have done so yourself.

And don’t think, “All these people can’t be wrong!” Scripture WARNS that “Satan deceives THE WHOLE WORLD” (See Revelation 12:9).

Christ’s Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),

Donald Wiley

For those who believe demon possession disappeared from the earth during the time of Jesus Christ and His apostles’ ministries, well, they are going to be in for a rude awakening. Demon possession is NOT a medieval concept, nor has it disappeared from the earth. Folks, the opposite is true. It’s getting worse! God reveals to us in the 13th chapter of Zechariah just when demon possession will end – AT CHRIST’S RETURN!  (See Zechariah 13:1-2).  And Revelation 12:7-17 warns us that it is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

The body of a 6-year-old boy was found in Yaquina Bay in Newport, Oregon after his mother called police and said she had thrown him off a bridge. She said she heard voices telling her to throw the boy off the Yaquina Bay Bridge, according to News Lincoln County. This horror occurred one November night in 2014.  I don’t think Jillian McCabe was lying when she said she heard voices telling her to kill her son. I believe she actually DID hear such voices, and I believe they were demonic spirits speaking to her mind.

On May 20, 1998, 15 year old Kip Kinkel retrieved his .22 caliber rifle from his bedroom and ammunition from his parents’ bedroom. He then went to the kitchen and shot his father once in the back of the head, then dragged his body into the bathroom and covered it with a sheet.  His mother arrived home at about 6:30 p.m., and he met her in the garage, told her he loved her, then shot her twice in the back of the head, three times in the face, and once in the heart. He then dragged her body across the floor and covered it with a sheet.

In a note Kinkel left on a coffee table in the living room, he wrote “My head just doesn’t work right. God damn these VOICES inside my head. … I have to kill people. I don’t know why. … I have no other choice.”

On May 21, the morning after he murdered his parents, Kinkel drove his mother’s Ford Explorer to the high school he attended.  Entering the patio area he fired two shots, killing one fellow student and wounding another.  Kinkel went to the cafeteria and, walking across it, fired the remaining 48 rounds from his rifle, wounding 24 students and fatally wounding 17-year-old Mikael Nickolauson. Kinkel fired a total of 50 rounds, hitting students with 37 of those, and killing two.  When Kinkel’s rifle ran out of ammunition and he began to reload, seven students succeeded in subduing and disarming Kinkel. 

I believe there is a very good chance Kip Kinkel was telling the absolute truth about the voices he heard telling him to kill and that he had no choice. He couldn’t stop himself from doing what he did. And, again, I believe these voices to be of demonic origin!

Again and again one hears of murderers who say they heard a voice telling them to kill. Remember David Berkowitz aka the Son of Sam, who between July of 1976 and July of 1977 killed six strangers with a .44 caliber hand gun? He claimed he received orders to kill from a demon-possessed dog!

Then there was the killer who wrote with lipstick on the bathroom mirror in one of his victim’s homes, “Stop me before I kill again!”

Yes, I believe in demon possession, and I am sure there are a lot of homicide detectives who believe the same.  Jesus believed in demon possession.  The apostle Paul was confronted by a demon possessed woman in Philippi years after the founding of the church.  (See Acts 16).  Demon possession is not a medieval concept, brethren.  It is a reality!

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

Donald Wiley

We are to “put off concerning the former conversation (Old English, meaning conduct, behavior) the old man (the old sinful nature, the former “you”), which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and TRUE holiness” (See Ephesians 4:22-24).

Note that after God, or after God’s likeness, we are in the process of being created in righteousness and TRUE holiness, not mock holiness, not make-believe or pretend holiness, or some kind of pseudo-holiness, but TRUE, that is real, genuine holiness wrought in us by God through His powerful Holy Spirit. And this is accomplished by and through divine grace, the grace of God. And his grace is effusive, or, as Peter writes, “manifold” (See I Peter 4:10). If “the spirit that dwells in us lusts”, or leads us to some act of sin in some manner, then “He (God) gives more grace” to overcome and conquer that lust. (See James 4:5-6). Whatever our problem, frailty, shortcoming, tendency to sin may be, God will more than match that downward pull with the upward lift of His POWERFUL HOLY SPIRIT, so that we NEVER need fall prey to that – whatever it is – again. Please believe that for it is so.

Most seem to understand that the grace of God provides for the forgiving of our sins, but few grasp THE FACT that the grace of God provides for the CONQUERING of our sins, also, and is intended to DELIVER us from sin – to free us from sin’s bondage IN THE HERE AND NOW!!! In fact, Jesus Christ’s present day function as High Priest of God is to accomplish this tremendous goal for each and every believer. Our Lord will maintain that office “till we ALL come…unto a perfect (spiritually complete, holy) man (individual – male or female), unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” – yes, to that degree, until we all measure up to the very character of Jesus Christ! (See Ephesians 4:13 once again). This is the will of God that has been thwarted by the blinding power of Satan in the lives of the overwhelming majority of Christians of the present era. Most believers do not even have a clue that this is the clearly stated will of God for every single individual son and daughter of God! “For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate TO BE CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON that He (Jesus Christ) might be (merely) the firstborn AMONG MANY BRETHREN” (See Romans 8:29). Jesus is “the forerunner”, trail blazer, so to speak, to show us the way. (See Hebrews 6:20).

And “we have not a High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points (in all areas) tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto THE THRONE OF GRACE that we may obtain mercy, and find GRACE to help (to help us keep from sinning) in time of need” (See Hebrews 4:15-16). All too many see that passage as speaking of our obtaining forgiveness from God AFTER we sin, but look at it more closely in context, the passage actually speaks of our obtaining merciful help and POWER from our Lord to avoid sinning whenever a temptation arises that would draw us into sin!!! We are to boldly believe our Mighty God can keep us from any and ALL sin!!!

Even under the heaviest temptation we need not sin, for “there has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful (providing us a great High Priest capable of pouring out the Holy Spirit) who will not suffer (allow or permit) you to be tempted above that (or, what) ye are able (to endure), but will with the temptation (at that exact same moment in time) also make a (God-made) way of escape (hence, a perfect escape route) that ye may be able to bear it (bear the temptation without sinning).” (I Corinthians 10:13).  Think on these things, believer!

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

Donald Wiley

How few comprehend what it really means to “believe in Jesus Christ.” To believe in Jesus Christ is to believe what He said and to ACT UPON what He said. To believe in Jesus Christ is to believe that He is one’s Lord and then to allow Him to be just that. Jesus asked, “Why call ye me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not the things which I say?” (See Luke 6:46). Immediately after making that statement Jesus warned that if we heard His teaching and failed to obey His teaching we were then building our house without a foundation and such a house would inevitably fall (see verses 47 through 49, Luke 6). It is the false convert who believes all one must do to be saved is believe Jesus Christ died for them. He has no foundation for such a belief. Every Mormon believes that. So does every Roman Catholic. Every professing Christian on earth believes that. That doesn’t mean they have all been granted God’s Holy Spirit and are saved.

Jesus Christ said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (See Matthew 24:35). He warned that “Many are called, but few are chosen.” (See Matthew 22:14). Only the faithful and obedient are chosen. It is to them and them alone God will one day say, “Enter into the joy of thy Lord.”

Many believe that much of what Jesus Christ said did pass away, that His words were spoken only to the Jews, only to those of a long since ended and passed away dispensation. I am afraid all such are in for a very rude awakening when they are brought before Jesus Christ at the judgment.

In what is called “the Great Commission” given to His apostles following His resurrection and shortly before His return to heaven, Jesus said, “Go ye therefore and teach all nations (America included)……teaching them to observe ALL THINGS whatsoever I have commanded you” (See Matthew 28:19-20). At the very outset of His ministry Jesus delivers what has been called “the Sermon on the Mount.” In that sermon He cites word-for-word two of the Ten Commandments and says, “Whosoever shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven” (See Matthew 5, verses 21, 27 and 19).  I don’t want to be viewed as one of the least in God’s eternal kingdom. I have been one of the least of men during all of my earthly sojourn. I don’t want to be one of the least for all eternity. And my Master assures my heart I shall not be. I only need stay on the path I am on and allow the Holy Spirit to continue perfecting me and bringing me into ever more greater obedience, and that I am resolved to do.

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

Donald Wiley

The apostle Peter gave the church fair warning that his beloved fellow apostle Paul “in ALL his epistles (wrote) in them…some things hard to understand, which they that are unlearned (in the scriptures as a whole, both Hebrew and Greek scriptures) and unstable (spiritually) wrest (twist, pervert, distort), as they do also the other scriptures (not just Paul’s writings), unto their own (spiritual) destruction” (See 2 Peter 3:15-16). NOTE: All comments inside parentheses are those of the author of this posting).

One of the most misunderstood texts from the pen of the apostle Paul is the 7th chapter of Romans, especially verses 14 through 24. Here are a few of the surprising statements Paul makes in those verses: “I am carnal, sold under sin” (verse 14), “What I hate, that do I” (verse 15), “Sin dwells in me” (verse 17), “How to perform that which is good I find not” (verse 18), “The good that I would (do), I do not, but the evil which I would not (do), that I do” (verse 19), “When I would do good, evil is present with me” (verse 21), “I see another law in my members…bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members” (verse 23), and, finally, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (verse 24).

It seems that many who read those plain, clear statements in Romans 7 forget that in the previous chapter, chapter 6, Paul had just made these plain and clear statements, too: “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? GOD FORBID. (And He DOES forbid sin in the life of the believer). How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (verses 1 and 2). “Our old man (the former YOU) is crucified with Him, that the body of sin MIGHT BE DESTROYED, that henceforth (from the time of conversion forward) we should not serve sin” (verse 6). “He that is dead is freed from sin” (verse 7) – NOT “sold under sin!” “Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin” (verse 11). “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof” (verse 12). “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God” (verse 13). “For sin shall not have dominion over you” (verse 14). “What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under (the penalty of) the law, but under grace (unmerited favor and forgiveness)? GOD FORBID!” (verse 15). “But God be thanked, that ye WERE (past tense) the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart (from the core and depth of your being) that form of doctrine which was delivered unto you (by none other than Paul himself). Being then MADE FREE FROM SIN, ye became the servants (slaves) of righteousness” (verses 17 and 18).

But it is the 19th verse of Romans 6 that really clarifies just what Paul was, and WAS NOT, saying in Romans 7 when He made all those clearly defeatist statements, such as “I am carnal, sold under sin” and “How to perform that which is good I find not!” Romans 6:19 says: “I speak AFTER THE MANNER OF (SPIRITUALLY DEFEATED) MEN because of the infirmity of YOUR flesh (not his own flesh, but THEIR flesh), for as you have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity (committing one sin after another), even so (in the same manner) now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness (the continued, uninterrupted practice of righteous conduct).” It is that simple!

Here is what Paul says in that 19th verse: “I speak after the manner of men (that is, I am going to put myself in your shoes and talk like you talk in order to address this problem YOU are having in ceasing to sin).” Notice, he says “because of the infirmity (Greek, “weakness”) of YOUR flesh – NOT Paul’s flesh – THEIR FLESHLY LUSTS AND APPETITES! They had the problem, not Paul! Remember, Paul said, “I keep under (control) MY body (his own fleshly pulls and appetites), and bring it into subjection (to the Holy Spirit’s leading and control) lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway (from fellowship and union with Jesus Christ).” (See I Corinthians 9:27).

The teaching device of applying the problem or actions of another to his own self was used by Paul more than once. Notice these words in I Corinthians, chapter 4. Paul writes, “And these things, brethren, I have in a figure TRANSFERRED TO MYSELF AND APOLLOS for your sake (in order to teach or show the Corinthian believers) that you might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another” (verse 6). Paul again refers to this same methodology of teaching in chapter 9, writing, “TO THE WEAK BECAME I AS WEAK, that I might gain the weak; I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (verse 22).

Paul had the victory over sin in his own life. Approximately six years before writing the Roman letter, Paul had written the believers at Thessalonica: “You are witnesses, and God also (notice now Paul says God will attest to what he is about to say), how holily and justly and unblamably we behaved ourselves among you that believe” (See 1 Thessalonians 2:10). Paul had long lived a holy, just and blameless life! That is WHY Paul could dogmatically state to both Timothy and Titus that a bishop (spiritual overseer, a pastor) MUST BE BLAMELESS…JUST, HOLY!” (See Titus 1:7-8 and I Timothy 3:1-7). Paul wasn’t a hypocrite, telling these men THEY had to be holy and blameless while he, himself, had to admit that he was “carnal, sold under sin!” How ridiculous that any Bible teacher would even think so!!! Paul well knew that God had said through the Psalmist words long ago, “he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me” (See Psalm 101:6). God is not so hard up for earthly representatives that He will anoint the ungodly to represent Him and speak on His behalf.

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

Donald Wiley

The answer to that question is found in Christianity’s observance of the Good Friday – Easter Sunday tradition. The Easter Sunday tradition is an interesting one. Notice: A group of Pharisees approached Jesus Christ one day and demanded that He give them a sign from heaven that He was truly the Messiah. He told them no sign would be given to them except one, that “as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s (Greek, ketos, pronounced KAY’-tos, meaning “a huge fish”) belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (See Matthew 12:40). Note well, Jesus said this was THE ONLY SIGN He was giving the Jewish people to absolutely PROVE He was their Messiah, so you can very well believe He performed this sign to the letter, especially since just before making that statement Jesus had said “by thy words thou shalt be justified (as having spoken the truth), and by the words thou shalt be condemned (if what you have declared proves to be untrue)” (See Matthew 12:37).

So why does the Jewish rabbi reject Him as the Messiah? Because a deluded and deceived Christianity teaches that Jesus failed to perform this sign, that’s why!!! Most of Christianity says Jesus was crucified on Good Friday, being placed in the tomb at sunset that Friday. They further teach that early Sunday morning near sunrise He arose from the dead. Now get your calculator out. We have a mathematical problem we must work out here. Count how many days and nights you have between sunset Friday and sunrise Sunday. You have the dark part of Friday and the dark part of Saturday – TWO NIGHTS! Now sharpen your pencil if you don’t have a calculator and count once more. You have Jesus Christ in the tomb the daylight part of Saturday and no more as He arose from the tomb before daylight on Sunday, having been placed in the tomb AFTER daylight Friday – ONE DAY! So, according to deceived Christianity, how long was Jesus Christ in the tomb? One day and two nights – NOT three days and three nights. And that’s WHY the Jewish rabbi will close the door in the Bible thumpers face, telling him, or her, “Jesus of Nazareth was a liar, a false Messiah for He distinctly said He would give the Jewish people but one simple sign that He was truly our Messiah, that being He would arise from the dead after three days and three nights in the tomb. Your Christian tradition reveals clearly that Jesus of Nazareth may have been many things, but he definitely was NOT the Messiah.” The rabbi might also point out that just before telling these Pharisees what sign He would give them that He was truly their Messiah He said, “By your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned.” (See Matthew 12:36-40). Had Jesus remained in the tomb for three days and three nights He would have been justified as a truthful Messiah. Since He did not – according to deceived Christianity – He was condemned by His own words.

Let me assure you that Jesus indeed was in the tomb a full three days and three nights – seventy two hours, not one minute less or more. However, Jesus Christ was NOT placed in the tomb on Friday, nor did He come out of the tomb on Sunday. Remember, when the women got to the tomb early Sunday morning, while it was yet dark, they found Him already GONE! The proper question to ask is, “How long had He been gone – a few minutes? an hour? several hours?” And remember it is the erroneous Sunday morning resurrection myth that validates deceived Christianity’s claim that God’s eternal seventh day Sabbath was moved to Sunday – in honor of Christ coming forth from the tomb on that so-called “sacred” day.

Those who buy into the Good Friday-Easter Sunday myth have no idea how slick and deceitful is Satan the devil. If one could compare the intellect and intelligence of Satan with someone like Albert Einstein, I assure you Albert would appear to be a retarded idiot beside Satan. Don’t make the mistake of thinking such spiritual “giants” as John Calvin, Martin Luther, Billy Graham and the like were immune from Satan’s clever deceptions. Human theologians ponder God’s Word for a few decades. Satan was pondering the most effective measures to employ in confusing the truth since the dawn of human history. And to say Satan is good at what he does is a gross understatement. (You can read of how he deceived the wisest man who ever lived in I Kings, Chapter 11.

I shall continue with this discussion, showing FROM SCRIPTURE ALONE that Jesus was as good as His word and indeed was in the tomb for a full three days and nights. And God forgive the blinded, Biblically ignorant preachers that have put forth a doctrine and teaching that has for almost two thousand years convinced God’s beloved Jewish nation that Jesus was a false Messiah. I pray God will be merciful to them at the judgment.

Let me assure my reader that there are multitudes, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, maybe more, who, in studying God’s Word have also had their minds opened to the truth that Jesus Christ did NOT arise from the dead on Easter Sunday, nor was He crucified on Good Friday, a clever deception spawned by Satan himself.

Jesus Christ was crucified on a Wednesday and placed in the tomb as the sun was setting that Wednesday. Counting three full nights and three full days, you will then see that He arose from the tomb as the sun was setting Saturday, NOT Sunday. He came out of the tomb at the exact same time He was placed in the tomb – as it was getting dark, not at sunrise, as the “only sign” Jesus Christ gave the Jewish people to absolutely and irrefutably PROVE He was their Messiah was that He would remain in the tomb for 72 hours, not seventy one or seventy three hours, but a full 4,320 minutes. When the women arrived at the tomb on Sunday and found Him gone, it was because He had arisen from the dead the previous evening at sunset. He had been gone from the tomb, not for a few minutes, but for hours.

What confuses so many is that the Bible says they hastened to get His body into the tomb because THE SABBATH DREW ON. Those, who fail to search the scriptures carefully carelessly assume that the weekly Sabbath is meant in this text. Not so! It was an ANNUAL SABBATH that was at hand, the First Day of Unleavened Bread, a Sabbath feast that immediately followed Passover day regardless of what day of the week Passover would fall on in any given year. Scripture clearly reveals that beside their being fifty-two weekly Sabbaths, there were seven annual Sabbaths, called high holy days or feasts. Crucifixion week had TWO Sabbaths: the weekly Sabbath and the First Day of Unleavened Bread annual Sabbath, the annual Sabbath that immediately followed Passover. It was the unleavened bread Sabbath that drew on and necessitated Jesus being placed in the tomb as the sun sat on WEDNESDAY!!! (These annual Sabbaths are described in Leviticus 23).

Jesus Christ most certainly did fulfill the ONLY sign He gave the Jewish people thereby proving that He was most definitely their long awaited Messiah. God bless you and illuminate your mind and thinking as you seek the truth in order to obey the same.

Bear in mind that the unarguable proof of just when Jesus Christ was resurrected smashes to pieces the teaching that Sunday is a holy day, a day that replaces God’s seventh day ETERNAL sabbath as the “Christian” sabbath. God willing, in future articles we will go to each and every text that seemingly, on the surface, appears to validate Sunday observance. No Bible text does such. 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 sought to nullify 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 sought to make 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 worshipers 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 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!

Please meditate carefully on all you have read. You are being given truth untold millions of professing Christians have never had enter their minds. You are indeed blessed.

A question: “Why was Jesus Christ crucified?” I mean, “What did He do that got Him killed? What charge or charges were laid against Him by the High Priest and his cohorts that carried the death penalty, the ONLY penalty that would satisfy them when the temple officers with their Roman soldier “SWAT team” arrested Jesus and brought Him before Pontius Pilate for judgment?” The answer of scripture: SABBATH BREAKING OR VIOLATION OF THE SABBATH!!

In Luke chapter 6, verse 7, we read: “And the scribes and the Pharisees watched Him whether He would heal on the Sabbath day, THAT THEY MIGHT FIND AN ACCUSATION AGAINST HIM (an accusation they could bring to Pilate and have Jesus executed).” And, continuing in verse 11, we read, “And they were filled with madness (as angry and as hostile as human mind and heart can get) and communed with one another what they might do to Jesus.” In order to make certain Pilate executed Jesus, they added the false claim that Christ was forbidding paying tribute tax to Rome. (See Luke 23:1-2,14).

When one reads the opening chapters of the Book of Acts and arrives at the events recorded in the 6th chapter, the time frame is but 10 to 12 weeks after Calvary and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ primarily for Sabbath breaking! And yet what do we read: “And the word of God increased (began to be preached and received) more and more, and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly, AND A GREAT COMPANY OF THE PRIESTS WERE OBEDIENT TO THE FAITH.” (See verse 7 of that chapter). And in the previous chapters of the Book of Acts we are told that the apostles did their teaching, or recruiting of followers, in the temple precincts. Remember, this is but weeks after Jesus had been executed for supposed violation of the Sabbath. There is no way on earth the apostles were substituting Sunday observance for Sabbath observance but weeks after Christ’s death in the heart of Jerusalem, at the temple, and persuading a great company of the priests to join them. Not a single priest would have come over to their side had they preached abandonment of the Sabbath in the temple precincts or anywhere else. It is ludicrous in the the extreme to think that Sunday, the day held sacred by sun worshipers for centuries, had replaced the Sabbath among Christ’s followers. It would be similar to a Christian missionary going to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city of Islam, and, standing outside the Grand Mosque, exhorting Muslims to abandon the Koran for the Bible, or claiming Mohammad was a false prophet!!! It just wouldn’t fly. The missionary would be killed instantly in the most brutal fashion.

Why can’t these “Christian” ministers THINK? I’ll tell you why. The blinding POWER of Satan is mind-boggling. Plus, human pride enters in and these preachers think, “There is no way I can be in error in this matter. I’m a ‘reverend,’ called to preach by God Himself.”

Why does the rabbi refuse to believe Jesus was the Jew’s messiah? And, better yet, why do so many Christians refuse to believe that God’s eternal seventh day Sabbath is still valid and in force today? Any person, who is totally honest when examining the scriptures – both Old and New Testaments – especially any Sabbath-keeper – will freely admit that there certainly ARE a few passages of scripture that SEEMINGLY authorize Sunday observance. But when all the foregoing, that revelation given in the preceding, when that information is kept firmly in mind, one is confronted with the issue that Jesus Christ Himself sanctified the seventh day as HIS Sabbath at creation, was greatly angered when His own people Israel violated the Fourth Commandment – to the point of destroying Jerusalem and casting down David’s throne when they continued violating the sacredness of that day – and prophesied it would still be regarded by Him as sacred long after His resurrection and return to heaven. (See Matthew 24:20-22 and Isaiah 66:22-23).

But the primary reason many Christians cannot correlate the scriptures on this subject and see God’s truth in the matter is revealed to us by something the prophet Daniel said in his prayer to God as recorded in Daniel, chapter 9, verse 13: “As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil (war, captivity, etc.) is come upon us, yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, THAT WE MIGHT TURN FROM OUR INIQUITIES (SINS), AND UNDERSTAND THY TRUTH.” Trying to understand spiritual truth, seeking to comprehend what the scriptures really teach, while holding on to some sin in one’s life erects a mental block in the mind whereby one cannot see or understand the truth contained in those scriptures. It is as simple as that! The apostle Paul cautioned, “sin not….neither give place to the devil” (See Ephesians 4:26-27). Each and every time a believer sins, if that sin is not immediately repented of confessed and forsaken, then Satan is given the power to deceive and to blind that believer’s mind from comprehending the truth in a given matter.

Another primary reason one cannot discern what the scriptures are really saying in those few passages that seemingly authorize Sunday worship is that the Sunday-keeper just cannot bring himself, or herself, to believe that so many professing Christians could embrace such error for so long. They are oblivious to the fact that multitudes around the clock abandon Sunday worship for Sabbath observance. A great number of Sabbath keepers were once Sunday keepers! And all who do such are generally devout students of the Bible, and it is through careful and earnest searching of the scriptures that they have come to realize God never authorized any change whatsoever in the observance of HIS holy Sabbath day.

Ask a Sunday worshiper as he, or she, is exiting their car to go into some Sunday observing church what scriptures they rely on to authorize their honoring Sunday as a holy day and the spurning of God’s Sabbath day and you will quickly see how they are merely following the crowd, going along with the flow, doing what they and their friends and relatives have always done. They will be surprised that you aren’t doing the same.

In this continuing article, we will examine the primary New Testament scriptures the Sunday observer relies on to authorize their spurning of God’s eternal Sabbath and embracing the day of the sun god. Don’t allow any unconfessed sin in your life, though, as you will then give Satan the opportunity to effectively blind your mind from seeing the truth in this matter. And, I warn you, he is good at what he does.

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

Donald Wiley

Many believe the date of their death is already predetermined by God. “You’ll not die before your time!” How many times have you heard that statement? A widely held belief, but erroneous, like many other beliefs held by professing Christians. The wisest man who ever lived penned these words: “Be not over much wicked, neither be foolish, why should you die before your time?” (Ecclesiastes 7:17). Many confuse the scripture statement “it is appointed unto men once to die” with a NON-scriptural statement, “the date of your death is already appointed and predetermined.” (See Hebrews 9:27). A heroin addict will most likely die before his time. Those addicts who abandon the habit generally live longer lives than those who do not. Surprised???

Just as we have it within our power to shorten our lifespan, the Russian Roulette player understands this perfectly well, so, too, do we have it within our power to lengthen our lifespan! Note well: “My son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments, for length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they ADD TO THEE.” (Proverbs 3:1-2). “Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of thy life SHALL BE MANY.” (Proverbs 4:10). “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy is understanding. For by me thy days SHALL BE MULTIPLIED, and the years of thy life SHALL BE INCREASED.” (Proverbs 9:10-11). “The fear of the LORD PROLONGS DAYS, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.” (Proverbs 10:27). Have you noticed I have firmly established this truth by quoting from but two books of the Bible – Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, both of these books found in the Old Testament? Those who say, “I don’t get my doctrine from the Old Testament,” generally are the ones you will hear saying, “You’ll not die before your time.” They cut themselves off from vast oceans of divine truth when they refuse to hear what their Creator had to say to His intelligent human creation for thousands of years – those many centuries when He spoke to man and His children solely through the Hebrew prophets and their writings. Many think the New Testament replaces, nullifies, voids, cancels out all that God had said before to Abraham, David, Solomon, etc.

I wish to God this was the only gross error held and believed by many professing Christians, but it is not. There are several more just as easily shown to be error. But many will not be corrected by the Hebrew Scriptures. In fact, they won’t be corrected by the Greek scriptures either. They believe what they believe and, generally, they will hold to those beliefs to their dying day – which, of course, they think is predetermined. Kind of sad, isn’t it? Any wisdom or insight I have in these matters has been afforded me simply because I have repented of my sinful past, submitted myself to the continuous, on-going LORDship of Jesus Christ and long ago set out to “PROVE” all things of a spiritual nature, as COMMANDED to do so by scripture. (See I Thessalonians 5:21). Try it yourself, reader, you might be pleasantly surprised.

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

Donald Wiley

To all born human God avows, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.  You are mine.  I have bought you with a price – the shed blood of my beloved and ever obedient Son, Jesus Christ.”  No human who has ever drawn breath has ever been forgotten by God – no Chinese peasant, no aboriginal Australian, no Babylonian slave – NO ONE!  Though dealing primarily with His elect sons and daughters since Adam and Eve, still He allows that whosoever will may come to Him and have a relationship with Him even though they are not among God’s elect.  Those cut off from him since that first pair heard His voice, those blinded and deceived by a myriad of false concepts, beliefs and religions die lost TEMPORARILY.  Their call and invitation to join the great family of God is future.  All those in the graves, all those long ago disintegrated and returned to dust, will someday hear the call to come forth from oblivion.  And they, too, will have a grand and wondrous opportunity to be redeemed, given God’s Spirit and at last be granted eternal life.  Does that seem to be too good to be true?  To some, I’m sure that sounds utterly unscriptural.  Their misunderstanding of such texts as Hebrews 9:27 and 2 Corinthians 6:2 will come to mind and prevent them from even giving a fair hearing to that which I now write.. It’s not a “second chance” doctrine of which I speak.  I am speaking of those multiplied millions who never had a first chance!  When did the ancient Chinese, the Egyptian and Babylonian people, who lived centuries before the appearance of Jesus Christ on this earth, have their first chance?

Had you lived in China prior to the 13th Century A.D. you would have known nothing of Christianity.  The first Chinese New Testament wasn’t published until 1813 by the British and Foreign Bible Society.  The complete Bible then followed in 1822 introduced by the same publisher.  Had a Christian visited China in 800 or 900 A.D. and asked a million Chinese their thoughts on Abraham, Moses, Jesus or the apostles Paul or Peter not a single Chinese person could have commented about the same.  They would have been totally ignorant of such names and such people.  Christianity was totally unknown in Japan until 1549.  Even then it was Roman Catholic missionaries led by Francis Xavier who brought their corrupted religion to the inhabitants of that nation.  And I could go on and on and speak of how Christianity was unheard of in Viet Nam, Thailand, the Koreas, etc. until recent centuries.  What do you think is the eternal fate of those hundreds of millions of people who lived and died utterly unaware God had provided a Savior to forgive them of all their sins and grant them an opportunity to inherit eternal life?  After all, God’s Word does declare quite plainly that Jesus Christ is the propitiation “for the sins of THE WHOLE WORLD!” (See I John 2:2).  And again, “Jesus….by the grace of God should taste death FOR EVERY MAN!” (See Hebrews 2:9).  And again, “God our Savior…will have ALL MEN to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth….Who gave himself a RANSOM FOR ALL to be testified in due time” (See I Timothy 2:4-6).  Yes, IN DUE TIME!  God has a time table for enlightening all mankind to the truth.  “For God so loved THE WORLD that He gave His only begotten Son,” not “God so loved the elect,” or “God so loved white folk!”  (See John 3:16).  “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that THE WORLD.through Him might be saved” (See John 3:17).  And notice this all important 19th verse of John 3: “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, AND MEN LOVED DARKNESS RATHER THAN LIGHT, because their deeds were evil.”  It is only when men choose darkness rather than light they stand eternally condemned by God.  But they must be given that choice first.  The ancient Chinese peasant cannot be condemned as a Christ rejecter.  The black African slave cannot be adjudged as such either.  They never rejected the light of God’s truth as it was never afforded them.

The apostle Paul knew this truth quite well, writing, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.  How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?  And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?  And how shall they hear without a preacher?  And how shall they preach except they be sent?” (See Romans 10:13-15).  “It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” (See I Corinthians 1:21).  “But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, THEY SHALL SEE, and they that have not heard SHALL UNDERSTAND” (See Romans 15:21).  Death is no obstacle to God!  “See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no god with me.  I KILL, AND I MAKE ALIVE!” (See Deuteronomy 32:39).  God can bring back to mortal life a Lazarus, who has been dead for four days, or a Chinese peasant who has been dead FOR FOUR THOUSAND YEARS!  With God, ALL things are possible.

The promise of life is in Christ Jesus – and no other.  (See 2 Timothy 1:1).  “Jesus saith unto him (to Thomas), ‘I am the way, the truth,and the life, NO MAN cometh unto the Father, but by me'” (See John 14:5-6).  It then goes without saying that those who have never heard of Jesus Christ have had no opportunity to be saved.. Yet Jesus clearly stated, “If I be lifted up from the earth (crucified), I WILL DRAW ALL MEN UNTO ME” (See John 12:32).

No one can turn from idols to serve the living God, the only true God unless the Word of God has reached their ears and understanding.  Is that so difficult to understand and accept?  “God was in Christ reconciling THE WORLD unto Himself!” (See 2 Corinthians 5:19).  He wasn’t just reconciling those this side of Calvary, those living after the time of Christ!  Many are under the delusion that when Jesus Christ returns the offer of eternal life will be no longer offered to any one else.  It will be closing time, so to speak.  But the very opposite is true.  “And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people, and I will dwell in the midst of them” (See Zechariah 3:11).  “For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may ALL call upon the name of the Lord to serve him with one consent” (See Zephaniah 3:9).  There will no longer be hundreds of languages and dialects spoken by the people of earth.  ALL will speak the same pure language -no slang, no obscenities, no ambiguities or double entendres!  To be continued…..

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

Donald Wiley 

God “brought him (Abraham) forth abroad, and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them.’ And He said unto him, ‘So shall thy seed (descendants) be.'” (See Genesis 15:5).

Ptolemy, an ancient astronomer in Alexandria, Egypt, who lived in the Second Century A.D. counted 1022 stars. He must have had better eyesight than Hipparchus, a Greek astronomer who lived nearly two centuries before Jesus Christ came to earth, as Hipparchus had only counted 850. It’s a pity they didn’t have access to God’s Word, or, if they did, failed to believe it, because God had previously indicated that the stars were numberless, just too many to count. Plus, the heavens wrap totally around this globe we live on, so, in counting the stars visible at any given point one must realize that there is a vast expanse of sky one never sees! Even astronomers, at least ancient ones, were not really deep thinkers. If I stand at the North Pole and look up, I am not seeing the same sky someone sees if viewing the heavens from the vantage point of the South Pole. And even though the earth is revolving, it would have to twist and turn and revolve in every possible direction for me to see the whole of the heavens. Even then I am only seeing a tiny portion thereof as it extends outward trillions of light years with stars and galaxies of stars everywhere.

So, are there really “few” that eventually are saved. God said Abraham’s spiritual descendants (see Romans 4 and Galatians 3) would outnumber the stars AS WELL AS THE DUST OF THE EARTH (see Genesis 13:16). When all is said and done, when God’s great work of bringing many sons to glory reaches its conclusion, Satan will have lost big time. The number of the redeemed of the Lord will be countless – trillions and trillions and trillions. The saving of mankind does not end with our Lord’s return. That’s actually when it begins. Right now God is merely building a cadre, as it were, of servants and sons who will assist our Father in expanding His family so greatly it will fill the universe. God help you to see and understand.

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

Donald Wiley