Wars, regional diseases, epidemics, pandemics, mental and physical illnesses, famines, droughts, fires, floods, air, land and water pollution, hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, crime, race riots, anarchy, disrespect toward authority, youth rebellion, sexual deviance, etc., etc., etc.  This is where we are.  In this posting we will summarize what God says in answer to the question: HOW DID WE GET HERE?  To answer the question we must keep in mind that Jesus Christ said in Matthew 4:4: “MAN MUST LIVE BY (OBEY) EVERY WORD THAT COMES FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD.” .

Of utmost importance is the fact that in Matthew 4:4 He (the man Jesus) was quoting something He, Himself had said to Moses in the distant past.  Moses, in turn, spoke His Words to the children of Israel, then had them recorded in a book that came to be known as Deuteronomy (8:3).  Several facts must be understood concerning those Old Testament Words and all other Words written by the Old Testament prophets.  I am writing this segment because most professing Christians believe that God “nailed the Old Testament to the cross” and therefore reject it.  Billions of people “know” that this Satanically-concocted lie is “God’s Truth.”  The following are a few Scriptural Truths, some of them from the Old Testament,  that need to be remembered when contemplating the connection between the Word of God and eternity.

Before stripping Himself of His godly powers and descending to earth (Phil. 2:6) the One Who became Jesus of Nazareth was the God of the Old Testament.  It was He (the Word–Jn. 1:1-4,14) Who created the universe and everything in it, Who spoke with Adam and Eve, Cain, Abel, Abraham, et al, Who led the children of Israel out of Egypt, Who spoke the Ten Commandments from atop Mt. Sinai and wrote them in stone with His finger, Who was born of a woman, Who established the New Testament Church (His “body”–1 Cor. 10:16) and is the Head of that body (Col. 1:18).  He is the God Who spoke to and through “holy men of old” who recorded His Words in what is commonly called the Old Testament.  The Word (Jesus Christ) spoke and arranged to be recorded in both the Old Testament and New Testaments THE WORDS THAT HIS  FATHER SPOKE TO HIM (Jn. 12:48-50; 14:10).  Therefore,  JESUS CHRIST–THE WORD OF GOD IN HUMAN FORM–IS THE AUTHOR OF THE HOLY BIBLE FROM GENESIS 1:1 TO REVELATION 22:21.  See The God of the Old Testament and Jesus of Nazareth: God, Man or God-man for a detailed explanation of  exactly Who Jesus was and is.

What was written in the Old Testament serves as God’s instruction manual for the New Testament Church (1 Cor. 10:11).  ALL SCRIPTURE (Old and New Testament) was spoken by God to the prophets and apostles as holy doctrine.  It was also to be used to  reprove and correct those who deviate from that doctrine.  That doctrine consists of His instructions by which He tells mankind how to attain the righteousness that is necessary for salvation (2 Tim. 3:13,14).  The Apostle Paul testified to the importance of the Old Testament prophets when he wrote that The New Testament Church was founded on their writings along with those of the apostles (Eph. 2:20).

Salvation requires faith.  God’s true saints live by faith (Rom. 1:17).  It is by faith that one is saved (Eph. 2:8).  Simply put, FAITH IS BELIEVING GOD’S WORD (Rom. 10:19).  Contrary to universal opinion, faith alone cannot affect salvation–  the  Word upon which faith is based must be OBEYED.  Faith without obedience to God’s Word (works) is dead faith (Jam. 2:14,17,18, 20, 24,26).  Dead faith cannot produce eternal life.  God’s Word is Truth (Jn. 17:17).  Life-producing faith is based on that Truth.   Jesus obeyed God’s Truth to the point that He became His TRUTH in human form.  By obeying the Truth He became the TRUTH which is the WAY to eternal LIFE (Jn. 14:6).  Jesus never changes; He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Mal. 3:6/ Heb. 13:8).  The Words Jesus received from God became His (Christ’s) commandments.

There is an unbreakable and unalterable connection between love for God and Christ, their love for man and the Law (commandments).  Jesus tells us that if we love Him we will keep His commandments, which prompts Him and God to love us (Jn. 14:15, 21,23).  Note that Their love for man depends on man’s love for Them.  Man must prove his love for Them by OBEYING THEIR LAW/COMMANDMENTS.   Jesus remained in God’s love BECAUSE He kept His (God’s) commandments.  Man can  abide in Christ’s love by keeping His (Christ’s) commandments (Jn. 15:10) which He received from His Father.  As a man Jesus knew nothing, said nothing and did nothing on His own (Jn. 14:10).  Even His Words were given to Him by God.  Note that His WORDS and His WORKS were done by the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit that abode in Him (Jesus).  We will all be judged by the Words of God (Jn. 12:48,49), just as was Jesus.  I have been ridiculed for believing, speaking and writing the words found in his paragraph.  All of them were “Christians.”  Many people will pay dearly for their attitudes toward God’s Words.  I hope you are not among them.

The Holy Bible is God’s Law in detail.  It is God in written form.  It is God’s will and testiment.  It is His covenant with His obedient saints.  The Ten Commandments comprise the Law in condensed form.  See The Two Laws of God and God’s Royal Law.  The Word came to earth as a man to “magnify the Law and make it honorable” (Isa. 42:21), not to destroy it (Mat. 5:17).  The Law is “holy, just and good” (Rom. 7:12).  Sin is the transgression of that Law (1 Jn. 3:4).  Sin separates man from the Law Giver (Isa. 59:2).  The Law and the commandments are the same.   To inherit eternal life man must keep the commandments/Law (Mat. 19:17).  To break one of them is to break all of them (Jam. 2:10), making one a worker of iniquity (Lawlessness) who will be rejected by Jesus on the Day of Judgment (Mat. 7:23).  Jesus described such false Christians in Matthew 15:9 as those who “… draw near to Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.  In vain do they worship Me” because they substitute the commandments of men for His doctrines.    ANY RELIGION THAT DOES NO NOT COMMAND STRICT OBEDIENCE TO GOD’S LAW IS A PRODUCT OF MAN’S VANITY.  Those who break commandment #4 are workers of iniquity.  

God’s message to mankind is clear.  Man must be converted and live this life in a state of holiness in order to be saved (Mat. 18:3).  Jesus died only for His friends whom He described as those who would do whatsoever He commanded them to do(Jn. 15:13,14).  Note that the “you” He was talking to were His disciples.  Only the righteous will be saved, and they just barely (1 Pet. 4:17,18).  Note that Peter was writing to and about THE CHURCH (1:2), which he referred to as “us” in verse 17. God is deadly serious about righteousness. Read 1 John 3:1-13.

The Old and New Testaments are of equal importance.  Both tell God seekers how to live their lives so as to qualify for salvation at the return of Jesus Christ.  In this life converts have the hope of salvation.  To receive salvation one must obey  the Law.  True repentance and conversion put the convert on the path to salvation.  Those who remain on that path through obedience unto holiness will be saved.  See Hope and Salvation.  The path to salvation is the path of righteousness, which leads to holiness, which is required for salvation (Rom. 5:21).  Holiness is obedience to God’s Word.  Only those who exhibit holiness until the end of life or the return of Jesus Christ will be saved (Mat. 10:22).  Many are called to walk that path.  Few do (Mat. 7:13,14; 22:14) because the cost is too high (Lk. 14:28).  Satan has convinced the church masses that there is no cost for obeying God.  By causing them to believe their hirelings’ ear-scratching “I’m o.k., you’re o.k., we’re all o.k.,” “only believe” messages go through life oblivious to God’s Truth.  Hell hath no fury like a churchite who is confronted by someone speaking or writing God’s Truth.  I have the phone calls, letters and emails to prove it.

Everything written in this posting is God’s Truth.  I hope the reader will study the Scriptures I have provided and come to his/her own conclusion.  Unfortunately, the Biblical Truths presented in this posting are summarily rejected by professing Christendom.  In effect they are saying to the Author of those Truths: “Sit down and shut up.  We got this.”

Which brings us to the subject of this series.  Both church and secular history prove that, “As goes the church, so goes the nation.”  This truth explains why the world is in the social, physical, mental, political, natural and economical abyss in which it finds itself.  The civilizations created by man are collapsing from the weight of their own sins.  Let me again recommend that you carefully study Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 while remembering that all Scripture is inspired by God, and that the New Testament Church was founded on the teachings of the PROPHETS and the apostles.  Thus says the Lord.  L.J.