“______ is a four letter word” is an expression that, for generations, has referred to something negative.  For example, relative to salvation, the word “work(s)” falls into the four-letter bracket, meaning that the subject is to be avoided at all costs.  As a result, any reference to salvation requiring anything more than faith is labeled “works” and “legalism” and roundly refuted.  The reason for this total refutation of Scriptural Truth is ignorance of the Word of God.

Another aspect of the problem is that it is assumed by one and all that words like salvation, justification, conversion and rebirth all mean the same thing.  They do not.  For example, Justification–the removal of all past sins (Rom. 3:25) is a one-time act of grace and is as a precondition of conversion and is bestowed solely on the basis of one’s faith (Rom. 3:28) and God’s grace.  Works and Law-keeping are not involved in justification.  Conversion, salvation and rebirth (being born again) all require continuous works which end only with death.  Read Born Again, The Salvation Experience and Hope and Salvation.  Key words: Born and Salvation and Hope respectively.

Contrary to God’s Word, His Law (the Old Testament) has no place in the New Testament (Covenant) Church in that it is associated with “works” which, we are told from pulpit and podium, constitute “legalism,” which, we are also told, is as anti-God as Satan himself.  This church “truth) has been and continues to be preached as “Bible truth” to billions of salvation seekers.  The deadly error is based on Romans 3:25 which involves ONLY JUSTIFICATION–not conversion, salvation or rebirth.  “Everyone knows” that the Law has no place in Christianity because, “Well, that’s what my denomination teaches.”  However, it does not matter how many billions of people have believed that church “truths” for how many thousands of years, THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS IS WHAT GOD SAYS IN HIS HOLY SCRIPTURES.  Therefore, let us turn there for the Truth that is the Word of God.  We know this because Jesus said so in John 17:17.

Before creating the earth, God created angels, probably billions of them.  Where God and the Word (Who became Jesus of Nazareth) are, there is Law.  Heaven is no exception.  Even among the angels there was Law.  Lucifer (Satan) and one-third of the angels broke and were cast out down to the earth where they remain to this day.  It is they who have deceived man into rejecting God’s Law.

Eve told the Serpent in the Garden of Eden, that God’s Law governed history’s first human beings.  God governs the whole of creation by Laws which cover every aspect of their existence.  Without Law there is only chaos.  Several words leap to mind relative to this truth currently: Chicago, New York City, Seattle, Austin, Portland, Los Angeles, Mexico, to name a few.  The common characteristic these entities all share is Lawlessness due to the lack of good government.  God characterizes these places and the people who are destroying them as places where “Everyone does what is right in his own eyes.”  Beginning with Adam and Eve, man has wanted to govern himself and believes that he can do it better than God.  This explains the two-bodied, multi-headed Satanic mess known as Christianity.  There is no central government within that religious body. Indeed, each man is wise in his own eyes and does what seems right to him.  God warns that: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but that way leads to death” (Prov. 14:12).  There is only one way that is right–God’s way which He calls His Law–Genesis to Revelation.  For convenience He condensed the Bible into the Ten Commandments (not options or possibilities).  In order to spend eternity with Him one must obey each one of them, including #4 which the entirety of professing Christendom refuses to honor.

Where God is, there is government.  He runs the universe and every aspect of it by His government.  Sailors can plot their route by the stars.  Months are calculated by the shape of the moon.  Animals give birth by the rotation of the earth and its location relative to the sun.  Gestation periods for animals are determined by the Lord’s natural laws.  His relationship with mankind is governed by His Law.  The “WORKS” mentioned in the Bible refer to man’s obedience to His “LAW,” also called His “COMMANDMENTS.”  These are works of righteousness which are required for salvation.  Satan has kept the world from believing this vital Biblical Truth.

When man does not obey God’s Law man self-destructs by dealing himself a hand filled with trouble.  Man is told in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 that his life and the circumstances of his life is governed by his relationship with God’s Law.  Simply put: obey it and be blessed; disobey it and be cursed.  The Old Testament is rife with proof of this Law.  God’s treatment of Israel reveals exactly how the system works.  I counted 13 times that Israel failed to obey His Law and were punished harshly.  By repenting and returning to the Lord (doing “works” of obedience) they would be rescued by a military leader or judge provided by the Lord.  A future generation would then disobey his Law.  He would curse them and the cycle would repeat itself.  Such has been the history of mankind ever since.

The problem with man is that he does not recognize God’s Law of Life.  The churched have it nailed to the cross; the unchurched do not recognize its existence.  In the eyes of the Lord, the churched are greater sinners because they have His Law lying on their coffee tables.  They have the oracles of God at their fingertips but refuse to learn, believe and obey them.  As a result, they are cursed by Him repeatedly and in a variety of ways using such things as famine, drought, flooding, disease, accidents, depressions, recessions, crime, war, earthquakes, invasion, drugs, etc.  The latest world-wide curse brought on by Lawlessness is called COVID-19.  Earlier there was the flu pandemic, venereal diseases, Eboli, the Black Death plague, etc.  In the United States and elsewhere we watch as criminals destroy city after city as liberal governments, beginning in Washington, D.C., allow destruction and death to go on continuously.  This is the Lord’s CAUSE AND EFFECT, SOWING AND REAPING LAW IN ACTION.  America has sown the wind and is now reaping the whirlwind.   God is “speaking” to America through the curses He continues to pour out upon her.  America is not listening.  Only His Very Elect hear Him and respond accordingly.

Where there is no (or bad) government, there is no peace, no happiness and no freedom, all of which God promises those who obey His Law.  The Apostle Paul stated that the Law is “holy, just and good.”  The Word (Jn. 1:1-4,14) came to earth as a man to “magnify the Law and make it honorable” (Isa. 42:21), not to destroy it (Mat. 5:17).

Where there is Lawlessness (Gk–iniquity) there is sin, chaos, death, fear and destruction.  At present, much of the world is living under the curse of God due to failure to obey God (iniquity).  Only individually can He find those who are obedient to Him.  He protects these whom He calls His Very Elect who study His Law, believe it and obey it.  WHERE GOD RULES THERE IS LAW AND GOVERNMENT.  WHERE HE IS NOT ALLOWED TO RULE SIN RULES AND CHAOS ENSUES.  L.J.