Chapter three verses fourteen through nineteen: Here the Apostle Paul, as he often did, reminded the church that there were (are) no guarantees when it come to salvation, that salvation is a process that begins at the time of one’s conversion and ends with one’s final breath. At any point during that period one can leave God’s path and go another way. Be certain, Satan has a “better way” to suit any religious bent. Paul makes clear God’s one-way-only plan in verse 14 where he noted that we are partakers of Christ–His body, the church–“IF” we maintain that position until the end by obeying His “Voice”–His Holy Word/Bible/Truth. As mentioned before, Jesus said in Matthew 10:22 that the believer must endure persecution for obeying Him until the end in order to be saved. The Lord repeatedly makes clear the fact that only those who are rejected by the Institutional Church for their belief in and obedience to God’s Word will qualify for entrance into His kingdom. He states in Matthew 7:13,14 that “few” will do so.

In verse 15 Paul compares unbelief toward God’s Word to the “hardening” the heart toward Him as exemplified by the Israelites in the wilderness of Sin when they refused to enter the Promised Land. In verses 16,17 he compares unbelief to “provoking” and “grieving” the Lord. Here he calls unbelief “sin” and notes that the wages earned by the Israelites’ sin was death. The same wages are promised to the church today in Romans 6:23. Note that Paul continually equates unbelief of God’s Word to sin which will disqualify church members from entering into His “rest”–eternity with Him in the Kingdom of God.

Each Saturday (7th day of the week) the Institutional Church announces to the world that she does not believe God’s stone-etched Word concerning His Sabbath by treating it as a normal work or play day. On the following day she dutifully follows Satan’s command to observe his Sabbath as established in 365 A.D. by Pope Sylvester I at the Council of Laodicea. One of the many heathen beliefs and practices the so-called “Protestants” took with them upon their so-called departure from the Catholic Church was the Babylonian Sabbath–Sunday–the Sun God Day on which the heathen worshiped their god–the sun. Nothing has changed. See The Sabbath and the Mark of the Beast.

In chapter 4 verses 1-4 Paul makes clear the fact that Sabbath breakers will not join the Lord and His saints in His eternal rest. He warns unbelievers to fear God, turn from their evil ways and believe His gospel, the same gospel that was preached to Abraham and His descendants in the ancient past. He warns the church today as he did then that unbelief–lack of faith which always produces disobedience–produces death. In verses 5 through 10 Paul again warns the church that Jesus must be both Lord and Savior if one is to receive eternal life.

Throughout the history of mankind billions of people have taken Jesus Christ (the Word–the God of the Old Testament) as their Savior but have refused to accept Him as their Lord. Today some two billion church members claim Him as their Messiah while rejecting His lordship over their lives by not believing and obeying His Words. See the Introduction to the website for examples of the church’s rebellion against Him.

The Lord designed this ministry to be a siren of warning those in Catholicism/Protestantism. Those who hear His Voice must come out of that “unclean thing” and not “touch” it–not get close enough to it to be affected by it (2 Cor. 6:17). Why? Leaven leavens the loaf; the loaf does not unleaven the leaven. In summary: GET OUT OF CATHOLICISM/PROTESTANTISM AND STAY OUT. Thus saith the Lord. No excuses, no “better ideas”–OBEY GOD. L.J.