A “covenant” is defined as a formal and binding agreement entered into by two or more persons or parties–a compact.  In the religious world the fact that it takes at least two to covenant” is rejected.  Another word for covenant is “contract”–an agreement between two or more parties, each of which guarantees to meet its agreed-upon responsibility.  In the sense that each party agrees with what is required of each party, a covenant/contract consists of two EQUAL parts agreed upon by both parties.  In political jargon it is known as “quid pro quo.”  In His Holy Covenant with man God says in effect, “You obey Me and I’ll bless you.”  Each party to the covenant is required to fulfill its stated obligation.  The covenant remains in effect ONLY IF each party fulfills its stated obligation.  If either party fails to do so, the covenant is nullified.  Again, in the religious realm, this quid pro quo rule is considered heretical and those who adhere to the rule have “fallen from grace.”  To religious man, God’s salvation covenant is totally one-sided: God provides instant salvation while man merely believes He did it.   One of Satan’s best kept secrets is that “two” is the operative number relative to God’s covenant with man.

Such is the case of the Covenant known as the Holy Bible.  The Bible, written by God, is a two-way contract between Him and man.  It is in fact a blood covenant initiated by Almighty God in which He uses the blood of His Son Jesus Christ as His “signature.”  The Almighty (Lord), Who cannot lie (Tituss 1:2/ Heb. 6:18), has bound Himself with an oath to fulfill His part of the covenant/contract–the Holy Bible.  In Hebrews 6:17-20 God, in order “to show the HEIRS of the PROMISE the unchangeableness of His COUNSEL, which He confirmed with an OATH … the HOPE set before US, which HOPE WE have as an ANCHOR of the soul which is both sure and steadfast and resides in the Holy of Holies where OUR FORERUNNER, Jesus ….” entered with His shed blood.  Note that God swore with an oath to what He has PROMISED for which we have HOPE.  The obedient saint’s HOPE is sure, made sure by Jesus Who carried the blood of that promise into the Holy of Holies and presented it to His Father as the surety of His (God’s) promise to man.  GOD’S HALF OF THE COVENANT IS MADE SURE BY THE BLOOD OF HIS SON.  The promise/covenant is guaranteed by Him who cannot lie.  Notice that the promise concerns God’s oath-established PROMISE and man’s HOPE.  The apostle Paul states: “For we are saved by hope.  But hope that is seen is not hope, for what a man sees, why does he yet hope for?  But if we hope for what we do not see, then we patiently wait for it” (Rom. 8:24,25).  In Hebrews 3:6; 6:11 Paul writes about the saint’s HOPE FOR SALVATION UNTIL THE END of life or of the world, whichever comes first.  This is Bible Truth.  Church doctrine that teaches that man is saved in this life is a Satanic lie.  Read Acts 2:26/ Rom. 8:25/ 1 Cor. 9:10/ Col. 1:5,27/ Heb. 3:6;6:11/ 1 Pet. 1:13.

The Lord’s part of the covenant He made with the individual is sure.  But that is only half of the covenant which, let us not forget, is a two-way promise made by two parties.  If the covenantee (man) fails to fulfill his part of the covenant, the Covenantor (God) will nullify the covenant.  As a man, Jesus of Nazareth operated according to the same covenant with the same God.  For this reason He spent much time in prayer and communion with His Father.  As the hour of His greatest test approached and the pressure mounted, He sweated great drops of blood out of fear that He would fail.  If He had He would have taken mankind down with Him.  He prayed fervently.  “And He was heard because He feared” both God and failure (Heb. 5:7).  God heard His prayer and strengthened Him, just as He will strengthen us IF WE OBEY HIM AS DID JESUS.  He remained true to His calling until His final breath, thereby setting the perfect example for those of us who daily fight against the powers of Satan.  Being a man like any other man, Jesus could have sinned.  He could have saved His physical life by renouncing God’s Word.  However, if He had, God would have spent eternity alone and man, including the man Jesus, would have died eternally.  Read Jesus of Nazareth: God, Man or God-man?  Key word–God-man.  IF HE WAS NOT A HUMAN BEING AS WE ARE HE COULD NOT BE OUR EXAMPLE.  WE HAVE THE SAME ACCESS TO GOD AND THE PROMISE OF THE SAME HOLY SPIRIT POWER THAT HE HAD WHILE ON EARTH.  

With those truths in mind, let us study one of the truths that salvation-seeking man has turned into a license to sin.  I am referring to the act of divine “sealing.”  Satan has enjoyed universal success in twisting this act of God into that for which it was not designed.  He has pulled off this ruse (and many others) by keeping his parishioners ignorant of “the whole counsel of God” which the original apostles preached and taught.  Their spiritual descendants continue to proclaim that same counsel to this hour.  Satan has kept his parishioners ignorant of God’s whole counsel by focusing his victims’ attention on Biblical “headlines” while blinding them to the all-important “fine print.”  The headlines tell us “what” while the fine print tells us “how.”  Without the “how” the “what” is meaningless.  The devil doesn’t mind man knowing “what” as long as he doesn’t know “how.”  By keeping man ignorant of the Lord’s “fine print,” Satan has deceived God-seekers into accepting his version of “how.”  In his perverted gospel (Gal. 1:6-9), man needs only to believe in order to receive God’s promise.  Consensus holds that, having believed, the fix is automatically and eternally in.  The die is cast and cannot be uncast.  Is this what God says in His Holy Scriptures?

I was assured by a sin-excusing website visitor that, having believed–having been “saved”–she could sin with impunity, that Christ’s death had guaranteed her eternal salvation simply for believing it.  She was amazed that I actually believed that I had to obey Him in order to be saved upon His return to earth.  To her and billions of others, obedience toward God’s Word is not only unnecessary, it is impossible.  As I have mentioned in earlier postings, one preacher warned his congregation against even trying to obey the Lord because, “… you’ll just make yourself sick.”  I became spiritually sick just listening to Satan’s words flowing through the lips of that famous false prophet.  A passage of Scripture comes to mind when I recall his words.  In Isaiah 30:10 the Israelites told the prophet to stop speaking God’s Truth to them.  They wanted to hear “smooth things, lies and deceits.”  Their descendants would later tell Samuel that they did not want that Godly prophet to lead them.  They wanted a king like the Gentiles’ heathen kings.  Earlier at Mt. Sinai the newly freed Israelites had refused to hear God’s voice.  They wanted to be instructed by a man.  Later, all but 12 of Christ’s disciples left Him because they did not like what He told them.  One of the remaining 12 eventually betrayed Him.  The ultimate irony is that all of those people believed that they were right with Him because they believed in Him.  Nothing has changed.  Modern churchman “knows” that God’s “sealing” means that the fix is in no matter what they do.  In the next posting we will examine the Godly act of “sealing.”  We will learn what the act actually means.  And equally as important, we will learn what it does not mean.

Through thousands of hours of Bible study, prayer, meditation during which the Lord revealed His Truths to me, I have learned that, without exception, everything the Institutional Church proclaims as “Bible truth” is either wholly or partially false.  Satan has hidden God’s written Truths from salvation seekers while warning them not to listen to those who proclaim those Truths.  It has been my experience that even when church people, including ministers, do acknowledge the Truth of God’s Word, they reject it in favor of Satan’s church doctrine.  Why?  Pride and fear.  Pride will not allow people to admit that they are wrong, and  have been wrong all along.  Fear of being rejected by family and friends is equally as powerful.  Those two evils combine to create a deadly brew from which the Counterfeit Church drinks to the full every time they meet to honor the sun god on his day–Sunday–the day Roman Emperor Constantine called “The Venerable (holy) Day of the Sun,” the day the sun worshipers met to affirm their worship of him.  Read The Mark of the Beast.  Key word–Mark.   L.J.