In the previous posting we noted that Paul, in his letter to the Hebrew converts, was taking them to task for failing to grow up in the Lord.  As he said, they were still on the “breast milk” level of spiritual maturity when they should have been dining on “strong meat” and setting the standard for babes to emulate.  Nothing has changed.  After 2000 years of Bible ownership “The church” is still on the pre-kindergarten level of spiritual maturity.  And as is the case of a physical baby, when strong meat (“fine print”) is offered, they reject it, and thereby reject the Lord (Lk. 10:16).  Milk (vss 1,2) is so much easier to consume and process than strong meat.  However, a diet of milk alone is deadly for the human being’s physical and mental growth processes.  The inevitable result of such a diet is an early death.

When first introduced to the infant, strong meat must be force-fed.  But force-feed we must in order to raise a mature offspring.  The problem is that the parents themselves never leave the breast.  It is up to the offspring to seek out the strong meat and consume it, often resulting in rejection from those who refuse to do so.  One must set aside the Lord’s “headlines” and search out His “fine print” in order to grow up in Him.  As stated in previous postings, in order to appropriate a Godly “headline” promise, one must fulfill the requirements He lays down in His “fine print” rules of engagementg.  Just as a child, when offered a choice between something sweet and something healthy, will inevitably choose the sugary food.  Like the syrupy, “just show up, ‘fess up and pay up and you will go up” messages heard around the world on the sun god’s day, sugar has four qualities that the normal human being likes: it tastes good, it is filling and it provides a burst of energy.  Then comes number four.

Like the sweet “any way you want it” religion that permeates professing Christendom, sugar is deadly on both the physical and mental levels.  Most people know about the physical damage excessive sugar consumption causes.  The latest national health report revealed that 80% of Americans are overweight, both physically and mentally weaker and less tough-minded than previous generations.  I will use a real life example to illustrate the effect excessive sugar has on mankind’s mental abilities.  During the Korean War the communists fed their prisoners a steady diet of sugar in order to destroy their minds, as well as their bodies.  It worked.  Men freed from their prisons following the war were measurably deficient on both the mental and physical levels.

Concerning the energy-producing aspect of sugar consumption, its effect wears off very quickly.  One gets a quick boost of energy, followed by a prolonged loss of strength and energy.  This is why sugar is addictive.  Like a cocaine or heroin addict, the sugar addict soon needs a “fix” to return to what has become his “normal” mental and physical status.  Nutritionists have reported that if sugar was just now coming on the market, it would be declared a poison.  However, the Western world is addicted to it and therefore demands it.  This is why the U.S. Federal Government subsidizes the nation’s sugar industry.  Admittedly, I enjoy sweet foods and drinks.  I do, however, know when enough is enough.  Relative to the spiritual milk the Hebrew Christians were addicted to, the situation was so serious that Paul realized that he had to wean them away from it.  Like Paul, I and a few others are trying to do the same for the modern church.  I hope he had more success than we are having.  In the years that I have been preaching the pure Gospel, I can count on my fingers the number of people who have turned away from Satan’s church and embraced the Word of God.  Hopefully, some of you have done the same.

Never one to mince words, Paul tells the Israelites that they must wean themselves away from the A,B,Cs of Christ’s doctrines.  He was telling them to grow up and walk the walk of their Master.  In other words, he commanded them to stop viewing Jesus as their Savior and make Him the unquestioned Lord of their lives.  As His messengers tell us throughout the Scriptures, He will not be our Savior in the future if He is not our Lord in the present.  The word “Lord” means “one who demands obedience.”  If one does not obey Him, Jesus is not one’s Lord.  The church rejects this Truth.  Like Adam and Eve, she prefers Satan’s lies over God’s Truths.

I recently read a “Gospel truth” message on the internet which stated with total certainty that not only does the Lord not expect obedience to His Holy Scripture, Adam has rendered us incapable of doing so even if we wanted to.  And besides that, as we are told repeatedly from all sectors of the “Christian world,” God nailed His “eternal,” “unchangeable,” “good,” “perfect,” sin-defining Law to Christ’s cross.  This is the church-embraced, Satan-inspired garbage billions of people hear repeatedly and believe totally.

Paul tells the Hebrews that they must grow up unto “perfection,” meaning maturity in the Lord.  In Ephesians 4:13 we are commanded to grow in faith and maturity until we attain “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,” Who tells us that otherwise we will have worshiped Christ “in vain” (Mat. 15:9).  We expect children to fail.  Our job as adults is to help them, encourage them and show them how not to fail.  Walking is a good example.  When first on his/her feet, the child stumbles, crashes into things, suffers scrapes, bruises, etc.  This being expected, we adults brush them off, kiss their physical wounds, sooth their hurt feelings and send them on their way as we stand ready for a repeat performance.  We do not worry for we know they will eventually learn to walk, then run.  The failure at first, success later on formula for physical advancement is considered “normal.”  However, if the child is still falling, etc. after a certain age we know something is wrong and we take action to correct it.

Not so with the Hebrews in the spiritual realm.  As adults they were still spiritually stumbling, etc. and accepting it as “normal.”  Shame on Adam who gets the blame for all adult sins.  As was the case with the Hebrews, sin is still considered “normal” within religious circles.  People supposedly “get saved,” live out their allotted years and die, never having weaned themselves from the religious “breast milk” the church provides.  At the same time they summarily reject the Lord’s strong meat if they accidently hear it or read it.  As Paul told Timothy, such spiritual babes are “ever learning but never coming to the knowledge of the Truth” (2 Tim. 3:7).  Jesus said that it is only by God’s Truth that we are sanctified and made one with Him (Jn. 17:17), “in Whom is no darkness at all” (1 Jn. 1:5).

As a result of her salary-withholding power over her hirelings, the Institutional (Catholic/Protestant) Church HAS NEVER HEARD THE TRUTHS YOU RECEIVE FROM THIS MINISTRY.  They employ their hirelings (Jn. 10:12,13) with the understanding that they will tell them “smooth things, lies and deceits” (aka church doctrine) just as the prophets had been told to do (Isa. 30:10).  Fortunately, those holy men of old rejected the people’s demands and obeyed God.  This does not happen in the modern day counterfeit church.  One need only follow the money to learn why the Lord’s Truth is rejected by the church.  False prophets know that if they told God’s Truth they would be out of a job and have to live by faith.

Notice the two main things the Hebrew babes of Paul’s day demanded their leaders to tell them.  They wanted to be reminded to REPENT AFTER THEIR INEVITABLE SINS and TO HAVE FAITH THAT GOD WOULD FORGIVE THEM AS QUICKLY AS THEY REPENTED.  These two subjects constitute 9o% of what comes from the mouths of their false prophets today.  Jesus declares that are not His appointed shepherds.  Like hireling shepherds of old whose job was to protect the sheep from harm, they ran when the “wolf” appeared (Jn. 10:12).  The modern day wolf is Satan who provides the false church’s false prophets with false “truths” designed to scratch the “itching ears” of their parishioners (2 Tim. 4:3).

In Jeremiah 5 the Lord characterized religious people of that day, and in so doing, describes the church of today.  Beginning in verse 20 He depicts those who bear His name but refuse to obey Him as “foolish,” noting that they have eyes to see and ears to hear His Truth but refuse to do either because their hearts (minds) were in a state of rebellion.  In verses 30 and 31 He laments that a horrible thing was happening to the people: “The prophets prophesy falsely and the priests lead the people according to their own rules.”  And what was even more appalling, the people “… LOVE TO HAVE IT THAT WAY.”  They still do.  I trust that you are not among them.  L.J.

Memory verse: 1 Cor. 11:31–If we judge ourselves we will not be judged.  This verse is universally misunderstood and misapplied.  Notice what else Jesus said relative to judging in Luke 6:42: “First, get rid of your own sin, THEN YOU WILL BE QUALIFIED TO JUDGE OTHERS.”  Paul stated that we who are holy must judge others in the church (1 Cor. 5:12; 6:2).  In First Corinthians 5:1-5 Paul tells the people that they should have judged the sinner in the church.  They had not, therefore Paul had done their work for them by judging him (vs 4) and had delivered him to Satan for death in the hopes that before dying he would return to the Lord.  If we are to judge angels in the next life, we must be fit to judge our fellow believers in this life.