Bible Doctrine

Billions have already experienced their blip.  Relative after relative, friends, neighbors.  They all had their blips.  Now, at least to us, they are only memories.  Soon, we too shall be memories.  The stream of time moves on.

Right now, RIGHT NOW we still have the opportunity to get it right, to grow into that personality our Creator always intended us to be.  But we only have NOW, and some of us still have a lot of growing to do.  Satan is a liar when he says all we need do is believe Jesus died for us and the best of heaven’s blessings and rewards await every one of us and that we will all be “raptured away” to glory before things really heat up on this planet.  Satan lies to Christians just as he lies to Muslims, duping Muslims into thinking if they commit suicide and kill Christians or Jews while committing that act they will instantly go to paradise and enjoy the best paradise has to offer.  Scripture warns that Satan deceives THE WHOLE WORLD!!!

The apostle Paul warns that Satan even presents “another Jesus” to the Christian world and that many receive “another spirit,” thinking they have placed their faith in the real Jesus Christ and have been given the real Holy Spirit.  Paul even speaks of a false gospel, false brethren and false ministers!  (See 2 Corinthians 11).

Yet the real Jesus said, “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth much fruit, and that your fruit should remain (be constant, day in and day out), that WHATSOEVER you shall ask of the Father in my name (including healing from some illness or disease), He may give it to you” (John 15:16).

He also said, “You are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:19).  The truly converted realize that they are pilgrims, sojourners, wayfarers, aliens in this present evil world.  They realize their real citizenship is in heaven, not on this earth.

The real Jesus stated that when men and women received the real Holy Spirit they would be guided into all spiritual truth and would have Bible prophecy opened to their understanding.  (See John 16:13).

The Apostle Paul exhorted all professing Christians to “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith (whether you have truly been converted and have God’s powerful Holy Spirit abiding in you), prove your own selves.  Know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is IN you, except ye be reprobates (false converts)?” (See 2 Corinthians 13:5).  Is it obvious Jesus Christ is expressing Himself through YOU?

Multitudes of professing Christians are going to open their eyes at their resurrection only to have it dawn on them that instead of being incorruptible, immortal spirit beings they are still mere human beings composed of flesh brought back to life to stand in the judgment of the unconverted.  I can’t begin to imagine what mind-numbing fear will grip their hearts and fill their minds at that moment.

Life’s little day will draw to its close a lot sooner than most think.  While we yet live and breathe we have the marvelous opportunity to really get it right, to really and truly find ourselves being conformed to the image of our Lord and Savior whereby we can in confidence at last say to our Creator, “Alright, Lord, I am ready for my close up!”

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

Donald Wiley

Sherlock Holmes, the fictional detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, was noted for his near miraculous powers of observation. Holmes had the uncanny ability to immediately notice things the casual observer failed to see. I was wondering this morning what Sherlock Holmes would have quickly noticed had he read the Olivet Prophecy given in the 24th chapter of Matthew’s gospel account. (This prophecy is also found in Mark 13 and Luke 21. John does not include this prophecy in his gospel account).

Matthew includes in his account of the Olivet Prophecy of Jesus Christ something both Mark and Luke omit. I have no doubt had Sherlock Holmes read all three accounts he would have immediately noticed what Matthew includes. Have YOU noticed what Matthew includes and the other two writers omit? What follows are the 15th through the 22nd verses of Matthew chapter 24: “When you shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, whoso reads let him understand, then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house. Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray you that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day. For then shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”

One thing, I have no doubt, Mr. Holmes would have noticed very quickly is that either Jesus or Matthew emphasized or underscored the necessity of understanding what the prophet Daniel had written many centuries previously. Note the words in Matthew 24, verse 15: “whoso reads let him understand” that immediately follow the statement, “When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place…..”

There are two conditions, or criteria, one must meet in order to understand the Book of Daniel, as well as having the ability to rightly understand any other portion of Holy Scripture: 1) The reader must have an open mind and give their undivided attention to God’s Word, and 2) They must not have any unforsaken sin in their life. Daniel himself points up the necessity of meeting this second condition in a prayer he prayed for the deliverance of Israel, saying to God, “yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand thy truth” (See Daniel 9:13).

The apostle Paul warns that we become alienated from God and enemies in our mind when we sin (See Colossians 1:21). That’s why one who has been redeemed from sin must immediately confess and forsake any sin they commit. The price we pay is immediate if nothing more than a hardening of our heart and an immediate hindrance to prayer, as well as immediate difficulty in understanding the scriptures aright.

The “abomination of desolation” is mentioned twice in the Book of Daniel, first in Daniel 11:31 and then again in Daniel 12:11. But those are not the words that I believe would have arrested the attention of someone like Sherlock Holmes. It is the 20th verse of Matthew 24 that I believe would have intrigued any Bible reader who was also aware of Christian dogma and doctrine. Such a seeker of divine truth would have contemplated long and hard the words of Jesus Christ when He told His disciples, “But pray you that your flight be not in the winter, NEITHER ON THE SABBATH DAY!” Mr. Holmes might have thought, “It has been commonly believed for centuries that Sunday replaced Sabbath observance very soon after the founding of the Christian church.” Hastening to his library, Mr. Holmes might have pulled out a book of ancient history. Flipping through the pages, he would have found how the Romans destroyed the temple and Jerusalem in 70 A.D. following a rebellion by the Jews in 66 A.D., called the Great Revolt.

“Most interesting!” he might have thought. If the Sabbath had
been abolished many decades before, why would Jesus tell His disciples to pray that their flight from a besieged city not be necessary on the Sabbath!!! If the Sabbath had long been regarded by God as just an ordinary day, why be concerned that one not trample on that day by arduous labor and flight???

And, musing a bit further, what if Sherlock Holmes had read the prophesies of Isaiah.  Coming to the final chapter of Isaiah’s lengthy book, he would  certainly have been astounded to find these words penned by that mighty prophet of God: “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and name remain.  And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 66:22-23).  “Good heavens,” Mr. Holmes might have thought, “how on earth could the masses of Christianity have overlooked this prophecy wherein God Himself declares that it shall surely come to pass that someday all flesh, Gentile as well as Jew, shall one day honor His eternal holy sabbath as long as time itself endures!!!”

Yes, I wonder what Sherlock Holmes would have thought!

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

Donald Wiley

  Unless God is moving through the agency of the Holy Spirit to enlighten and grant comprehension most, if not all, of what I write will be just so much religious talk.  As I have pointed out in other articles, most folks do not change their religious beliefs.  Reared a Catholic you die a Catholic.  Reared a Baptist, you die a Baptist.  Raised to go to church on Sunday, you will probably be sitting in the church pew on Sunday when you are ninety-three years old should you live to such a great age.  Satan is well aware of this human trait – that humans generally do not abandon their religious heritage and upbringing. 

 Whatever your denominational affiliation, you will have scriptures that seemingly support your denomination’s viewpoint in any given matter regarding scripture interpretation.  Plus, you will have revered church leaders that support your denomination’s views.  And unless the Holy Spirit moves in miraculously affording light and understanding you will just have too much pulling you in the direction you have been proceeding all of your days.  Thus, born and reared a Lutheran your funeral will be conducted in a Lutheran church by a Lutheran minister.  Satan is far more aware of that FACT than you are.  This is not to say divine truth cannot be known.  It can, but about the hardest mental exercise anyone will ever experience is trying to UNlearn something they have learned and then proceed to believe something else, generally the very opposite of their present belief in some matter.

  A Sunday observer knows and knows that he knows he has it right in at least that one area of doctrine.  He has several scripture passages that he is absolutely certain supports him in his belief.  He has millions who agree with him – even much revered church leaders and spokesmen.  He feels they just cannot be wrong.  After all, much of the Christian world has honored Sunday as “the Lord’s Day” for nearly nineteen hundred years.  He is “locked in” to his beliefs, for he feels these church leaders would have discovered any such error long ago and shared the same with fellow Christians.  He is unaware of how Satan works and what a supreme master Satan is at his craft – the art of deception.  He, or she, can’t quite believe the scripture warning, “Satan deceives THE WHOLE WORLD” includes them. (See Revelation 12:9).

The religious mind is a closed mind by and large.  Try to tell a Roman Catholic priest he doesn’t have the power or authority to forgive a parishioner’s sins, or convince a Baptist he can forfeit his salvation, or a Pentecostal preacher he is speaking gibberish when he utters what he calls “a heavenly language”.  You will anger all such and quickly learn how narrow minded a fellow Christian can really be.  Still, you love them fully realizing that you, too, can err and err greatly.  

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

Donald Wiley

Paul in his defense before Governor Felix insisted that he “believed ALL THINGS which are written in the law and the prophets” (See Acts 24:14).  Therefore Paul, as well as all the other apostles believed the following:

“All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again” (Ecclesiastes 3:20).

“For the living know that they shall die, BUT THE DEAD KNOW NOT ANYTHING” (Ecclesiastes 9:5).

“Put not your trust in princes nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.  His breath goes forth, he returns to his earth; IN THAT VERY DAY HIS THOUGHTS PERISH” (Psalm 146:3-4)

“The dead praise not the Lord, neither any THAT GO DOWN INTO SILENCE” (Psalm 115:17).

“Will you show wonders to the dead?  Shall the dead arise and praise you?  Selah.  Shall your loving kindness be declared in the grave, or your faithfulness in destruction?  Shall your wonders be known in the dark? and your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?” (Psalm 88:10-12).

“For He (God) remembered that they were but flesh (that’s all, no immortal soul); a wind that passes away, and comes not again (apart from a future resurrection from the dead)” (Psalm 78:39).

“What profit is there in my (shed) blood when I go down to the pit (the grave)?  Shall the dust praise you?  Shall it declare your truth?” (Psalm 30:9).

“For in death there is no remembrance of you.  In the grave who shall give you thanks?” (Psalm 6:5).

And what did God tell the first two humans?  “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” (See Genesis 3:19).

Paul believed every word of that.  The dead aren’t praising God.  They aren’t forming any thoughts.  They are silent and have no remembrance of God or anything else.  They quickly decay and eventually become dust, returning to the ground from whence we came.  The redeemed await a resurrection when they will come forth from the dust clothed in immortality never to die again.

Peter agreed with Paul and the prophets of old.  Speaking of King David, Peter said, “Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day….for David is not ascended into the heavens” (See Acts 2:29, 34).  The thief on the cross didn’t ascend there either, but he will someday just as Jesus promised he would.

May our Lord give you eyes to see and hearts to understand is my prayer.