Over the years (I am 79) I have mentally relived that day 2000 years ago when a sinless, love-filled man named Jesus of Nazareth became sin for me (2 Cor. 5:21).  He who knew no sin was made sin as His loving Father laid the sins of mankind on Him. Isaiah 53 tells us that He was smitten, afflicted and bruised.  And by Whom? BY HIS OWN FATHER Who then, as He hung on that stake with His life flowing out of His chest, turned His back on Him, causing Him to cry out: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Having been forsaken by His Father, this sinless Man died alone.  As a father and a son, I cannot imagine this scenario from either of Their perspectives. If that was not love being exhibited, then I do not know what love is or how to express it.  Jesus died so that God-seeking men could receive His Holy Spirit and be empowered to overcome Satan’s siren call of temptation as did Jesus.  By “walking as He walked (in holiness),” men would EARN the right to spend eternity with Him in the Kingdom of God (Rev. 3:21). Contrary to popular opinion, faith alone cannot save the soul.  If, that is we can take God at His Word.  See James 2:10,14,17-20,24,26 where He tells us that we must WORK (obey) His Word/Truth (Jn.17:17) in order to inherit eternal life.

As is usually the case, the Lord awoke me for prayer at around 3:30 this morning.  I was somewhat troubled as I knelt before Him.  I would soon find out why.  Rising from prayer I went to my computer to see if anything had come in relative to the ministry.  What I saw was screen after screen of God-rejecting, Bible-refuting rhetoric as church people explained to me in graphic detail how God had lied to mankind in general and to me in particular.  The major theme Satan was throwing at me concerned the “fact” that obedience to God is not only unnecessary for salvation, it is impossible.  The prevailing theological “truth” held that Jesus, knowing that His commands were impossible to obey, died so that man could ignore them and still receive eternal life simply by believing in Him.  I actually heard an ordained minister say words to that effect.  I watched his lips move as Satan spoke through him.  This morning I read the words of his religious brethren as they spoke what Satan placed in their mouths.

I have heard and read church people accuse God of lying many times, but rarely have I seen them so adamantly defend their right to rebel against His Word and get away with it.  His grace, I was told repeatedly, allows churchites to sin at will–WITH HIS BLESSINGS.  Jude 4 immediately came to mind.  In his epistle the prophet wrote about the present time,  perfectly describing how false believers would turn God’s grace into a license to sin.  This in spite of Jesus’ Words to His disciples in John 15:13,14.  Here He told them that He would die for them only “… IF you DO whatsoever I COMMAND YOU TO DO.”  “Faith” is a mental construct requiring only thought. To “DO” something requires a manual act.  I can think about mowing my yard but that will not get it DONE–I MUST DO THE WORK.  Not so in the spiritual world where thoughts rule the day.  According to sin-addicted churchites who believe (have faith that they) can (do) sin with God’s blessings as long as they believe (have faith) in Him while enjoying the sin.  John, writing to the church, noted that church people who sin are “of (belong to) the devil,” and that Jesus came to “DESTROY THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL” in men so that they could live free from (not free to) sin (1 Jn. 3:8).  However, my correspondents contend that Jesus died so that they can sin with impunity simply by believing in Him.  As the preacher I earlier mentioned said, we are saved by faith (a mental construct) only.  Thereby, if we have faith we can even kill someone and get away with it.  No, I am not making this up.  I was in the room with him when he said it.  It has since become obvious that he was speaking for many others.  If as we are told, “The law was nailed to the cross,” then God’s command not to kill no longer applies.  That being the case, it makes sense that none of the other commandments apply to the “Christian life.”  According to those in the know, the Words: “To transgress the Law is sin, for sin is the transgression of the Law” (1 Jn. 3:4) no longer apply.  With God’s definition of sin now in the religious dust bin, sin becomes whatever one’s denomination declares it to be.  This makes Christianity the world’s most convenient religion.  No wonder so many love it.  No wonder God hates it.

Jesus warned His messengers to count the cost of obeying Him and telling others to do so.  He said that men would hate them for obeying Him and speaking His Words (Lk. 6:22) just as men would hate Him for obeying His Father and speaking His Words.  He warned that those who would hate His ministers in the future would be the religious descendants of those who had hated Him.  In His case it was the Jews; in the case of those who would obey Him in the future, it would be the church.  He was right, of course.  It was religionists who persecuted Jesus and the apostles.  Just as He foretold, nothing has changed.  I have found that churchman’s hatred toward God, His Son and their Word is just as powerful and pervasive now as in days of old, AND GROWING MORESO.  In Luke 10:16 Jesus said that those who came against His servants and the Words they spoke would prove that they “despised” Him, His Father and their Word.  Again, He was right.  And due to the existence of the world-wide web, Satan is now able to spread his hatred throughout the world 24/7 through his false prophets.  Jesus warned that as the time of His return approached the love of men (for Him) would wax cold (Mat. 24:12).  In order for love to BECOME cold it would have to have previously been hot.  I find only cold (false) love in the Institutional Church.  According to churchites, God just needs to sit down and shut up.

Man is intent on pleasing himself and “proving” that his theology is right, which means God is wrong.  Anyone who puts forth God’s Word as the standard of rightness finds hate coming at him hard, fast and relentlessly.  No one can hate like a “Christian.” And nothing brings out that hate like the Word of God.  God condemns and hates sin.  The church loves and embraces sin.  I find that the church’s love of sin is growing more powerful and more pervasive as the time of Christ’s return grows nearer.  This comes as no surprise to those who know and believe the Biblical God.  If you want to see and hear pure, Satan-induced hatred, try showing a church person what God said in their Bible.  Darkness hates light.  God’s light illuminates church darkness.  God is light.  The church hates God–secretly, of course.

Jesus said: “If you love Me, keep My Commandments” (Jn. 4:15).  He also said: “If you would have (eternal) life, keep the commandments” (Mat. 19:17).  Note that the keeping of His commandments comes BEFORE receiving eternal life.  However, churchman claims to know a lie when he hears one.  Not only did he nail Christ’s commandments to the cross, he awarded himself eternal life for doing so, and awarded it now.  Obviously, God’s light/Word/Truth leaves much to be desired, which explains why man rejects it.

To escape God’s light (Word/Truth) one must abandon it.  Which is nothing new as the apostles tell us.  When a nearby pastor said in an newspaper article that his denomination was “stepping outside the Bible” in search of truth I was reminded by the Lord that religious people have been doing that for 2000 years.  The Apostle Paul wrote about this problem a few years after the establishment of the New Covenant Church.  By the time he came along Satan had already sown his tares among the Lord’s wheat.  Today the tares outnumber the wheat millions to one.  Which is exactly what Jesus prophesied in Matthew 7:13,14.  Contrary to church opinion, He was right again.  It was for this reason that the Apostle Paul commands those who love God to “Come out of her (the church) and be ye separate, touch not that unclean thing.”  Then, and only then, he said, would God be their God and they would be His people (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1).  Alas, my detractors reject these words also.  The Lord said for us to “count it all joy” when people reject us, for they in reality are rejecting Him, meaning His Words.  Therefore I rejoice.  In John 12:48 Jesus said that those who reject His Words are in fact rejecting His Father Who gave Him those Words.  I do not rejoice in this.  Rather I am saddened that “Satan has deceived the whole world.” Sadly, this includes the church world.   L.J.