In Deuteronomy chapter 10 Moses is reminding God’s chosen people of the day when God spoke to them from atop Mount Sinai. He then instructed Moses to bring Him two tablets of stone on which He (God) wrote His Law by condensing it into ten commandments. He then told the people that they must obey that Law in order to receive His promises which He would later lay out before them in detail in chapter 28 verses 1 through 13.

In chapter 11 verse 1 Moses told the children of Israel that they must “… love the Lord your God and keep (obey) His charges, and His statutes and His judgments and His commandments ALWAYS.” Israel failed to obey His Law. As a result, ten of the tribes were defeated by the Assyrians and scattered throughout the world in 722 B.C. Several generations later the other two tribes (Judah and Benjamin) were defeated and sold throughout the world as slaves for the same reason–failure to obey God’s Law. Approximately 42,000 of them were allowed to return to Jerusalem in order to rebuild the city and the Lord’s Temple. Their descendants, called “Jews,” remain there to this day.

In the meantime the other 10 tribes had totally assimilated with the Gentile nations in which they had settled and, having lost all knowledge of their Israelite ancestry–their religion, their language, their customs, etc., they became spiritual Gentiles who, unto this day, believe themselves to be Gentiles (Heb.–goiim–heathen). Read Who and Where is Israel Today? Key word–Where. The Jews have maintained their identity because they acknowledge God’s Law. However, they, like their Israelite brethren, have failed God miserably and, as was prophesied about them, they have been at war with most of the world ever since. Today’s television news coverage reveals how the world hates the Jews. Numbering approximately 15,000,000, most of them remain scattered throughout the world that hates them and those who stand with them, particularly America. Israel is called the “little Satan” while America is called the “big Satan.”

In approximately 31 A.D. Jesus told His Jewish disciples to go into all the world. locate the “lost tribes of the house of Israel” (Mat. 10:6) and teach them His Gospel, the same Gospel He had taught Abraham (Gal. 3:8) anciently. Through His modern day ministers, He is teaching that same Gospel to His true church (“the Israel of God”–Gal. 6:16) today. As the Apostle Paul tells us, God recorded and preserved His Gospel message in order to make it available for instructing His people (His true church) who are living during the final age of this world (1 Cor. 10:11). This generation is the one that will see the end of the age and the return of Jesus Christ. Recall that the Gospel message was to be taught to God’s people ALWAYS. God’s true saints keep His Law today by obeying His commandments, including #4. The other 99% of “the church,” refuses to do so and are living under His continuous curse. Read the series titled Why? Key word–Why. Read Who are God’s People? and “My People Who are Called by My Name.” Key words–People and Called respectively. Reading the last two series will reveal that not all who are called God’s people are His people indeed.

Several changes took place within God’s spiritual family following the establishment of the New Testament Church. His people no longer observe the sacrificial law in that Jesus became the sacrifice for their sins on the cross. Jesus made this clear during the Last Supper. The stone-etched Law is now written in the hearts of God’s saints by the indwelling Holy Spirit that is received following true conversion. One thing remained the same: The Ten Commandment Law is still being obeyed by God’s true saints and will be kept ALWAYS by those who comprise His one and only church (ekklesia–called out ones). Jesus lamented that only a few people would choose to be part of His true church (Mat. 7:13,14; 22:14). Many, He warned, would choose to enter Satan’s Catholic/Protestant Religious System which today calls itself “the church.” Which brings us to the focus of this study.

In Deuteronomy 30:19,20 Moses tells the Israelites that he is setting before them “… life and death, blessing and cursing.” His advise was to “choose life” (and blessing). Notice that he told them only about life (blessing) and death (cursing)–both administered by the Lord Himself. Notice that he said nothing about any other option. All other Biblical writers talk about the choice between light and darkness/ life and death with the corresponding promises of blessings (for light and life) and curses (for darkness and death). Again, there are no Scriptural references to anything between the two, totally different choices. The reason for this is found in Revelation 3:15-17 where Jesus tells the modern day (Laodicean) church that she is both hot and cold. Because she has chosen “NEITHER,” He refers to her as “vomit,” meaning that at judgment He will treat her as if she had been cold constantly. He will not take into consideration her “hot times” (religiosity/churchiness), but will remember only her cold times (worldliness) which would lead to her eternal death. The parable of the ten virgins is a prime example of this Truth (Mat. 25:1-12).

What we find in the Laodicean system–God’s name for professing Christendom today–is the very thing God warns His true saints to strictly avoid. We are commanded not to so much as “touch that unclean thing” (2 Cor. 6:17–read 6:14 to 7:1). In the following teaching we will look into the arena located BETWEEN light and darkness, hot and cold–(life and death) that man, under Satan’s leadership, has created for himself. Having rejected God’s Law, salvation seekers have carved out a religious arena which allows them to live as does the world around them while being assured by her false prophets that they will spend eternity in heaven. That arena is called “Christianity.” L.J.