“In the beginning (of the earth’s re-creation–Genesis 1-3) was the WORD (family Spokesman), and the Word was with God and the Word was (also a) God …. All things were made by Him (the Word), and without Him nothing was made. In Him (the Word) was life and the life was the LIGHT of men. The LIGHT was (and is) the LIFE of men. The LIGHT (producer of life) shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it (the light). Jesus was the WORD made flesh (Jn. 1:14)–the walking, talking, living WORD OF GOD in the form of a man. He was THE WORD, not a God, made flesh. He was totally human and in no part God while walking this earth. If He was any part God He is not our example. He did what He did ONLY because of the Holy Spirit within Him. True saints have the same power due to the same Spirit. Pardon the detour. Now back to the subject.

This man was (is) the DOOR/GATE THROUGH WHICH AN ASPIRING HEBREW MUST PASS. The Door/gate/Messiah is a spiritual “filter” that removes EVERYTHING pertaining to the traveler’s previous life and destroys it prior to his entrance into the sheepfold (church). This is known as JUSTIFICATION. This Truth is brought out in Romans 3:24 through 26 where the Apostle Paul tells Hebrews that they were (and are) “justified freely by His (God’s) grace through the redemption that is IN CHRIST JESUS (the door/gate).” Paul goes on to say that the “filter” collects all of the aspiring saint’s PAST sins and does away with them–making them as if they never existed. At that time the traveler receives the Holy Spirit which provides him with the power to resist Satan’s temptations to sin. The Holy Spirit is then available as God’s “armor of light” (Rom. 13:12), the “whole armor of God” by which one is able to “quinch all of the fiery darts (temptations) of the wicked one” (Eph. 6:11,16). This the Hebrew must do in order to “endure unto the end” in a state of righteousness/holiness at which time (the end) he “shall (then) be saved (Mat. 10:22/ Rom. 5:21; 6:22). Read Hope and Salvation. Key word–Hope.

Jesus declared in Revelation 3:21 that, in order to join Him on His throne in the future we must “… overcome (Satan) EVEN AS (IN THE SAME WAY) AS I OVERCAME (him).” How did He overcome Satan? By the power of the Holy Spirit. All that is done any man, including Jesus, is done “… not by (man’s) power, not by (man’s) might, but by My Spirit,” says the Lord. This Truth is also brought out in John 1:12 where we are told that the one who “receives” (believes in) Jesus receives “the (Holy Spirit) power to BECOME a son of God.” Notice that believing in Jesus and receiving Him as one’s Savior, etc. DOES NOT MAKE ONE A CHILD OF GOD. Conversion provides the “POWER TO BECOME A SON OF GOD.” One must become and remain a true Hebrew. One must have truly “crossed over” from Satan’s world of darkness and death into God’s world of light and life, having left ALL of one’s sins in the filter (door) from which they are erased from one’s record.

Paul makes this abundantly clear in Second Corinthians 5:17. Here he is writing to church people, telling them that IF any of them were truly IN CHRIST, they are totally NEW CREATIONS; ALL OLD THINGS HAVE PASSED AWAY (FILTERED OUT BY CHRIST) AND ALL THINGS HAVE BEEN MADE NEW” (Gal. 61:5). Notice that “ALL things” of one’s past life must be left outside the gate, never to be brought inside the sheepfold. Those worlds are exact opposites. One has nothing to do with the other. Read Second Corinthians 6:14-7:1. God’s true Christians are to have nothing to do with the counterfeit Christians in “the church.” Though sheep and goats, wheat and tares, true saints and false saints are together in “the church,” Law-keepers must have no spiritual dealings with Law-breakers whom Christ calls “workers of iniquity” (Gk.–Lawlessness). Read Matthew 7:23. Spiritually, one is either a citizen of God’s world or Satan’s world. There is no dual citizenship. Read Christ’s Words to the end-time (Laodicean era) church in Revelation 3:14 through 20. Belief in Jesus is not the problem in the church today. Everyone believes in Jesus. However, as the Apostle James tells us in 2:14, faith will not save the soul of the believer. Faith in Jesus must be accompanied by WORKS–obedience to God’s Law as did Jesus. We must “walk as He walked” (1 Jn. 2:6). Otherwise, one’s faith is dead. We live by our faith. Faith is a spiritual entity. If our faith is dead, then we are spiritually dead. Read James 2:10,14,17,18,20,24,26. and First John 3:4. Contrary to near-universal church opinion, WORKS is not a dirty word. WORKS are necessary if one is to have any hope of inheriting eternal life. SO SAYS THE LORD IN HIS HOLY BIBLE. Read Matthew 19:17; John 15:10; 14:15,23 and 1 John 2:4,5.

Let us understand that even Abraham had his failures. First, he took his nephew Lot with him when he left his homeland. God had told him to LEAVE ALL OF HIS KINDRED BEHIND (Gen. 12:1). Lot caused him some serious trouble, including having to go to war. Then Abraham let his wife talk him into having sex with her maid. The result was Ishmael, the father of the Arabs (Muslims) who have waged war with the descendants of Isaac ever since. Because Abraham listened to his wife instead of God there continues to be war between Israel and the Muslims in the Middle East today. As the Scripture tells us, we have all sinned in the past. We have all had to call upon the grace of God.

Notice what the Apostle John says in First John 2:1 about that Truth. He plainly states that the goal is to have NO SIN. However, IF a saint happens to sin, he has an Advocate with the Father–Jesus Christ the righteous. Notice the giant word “IF,” not “when.” Then John says in verse 3 that we are IN CHRIST only IF we keep His commandments (Law)–IF we do not continue to sin: “To transgress (break) the Law is sin; for sin is the transgression of the Law” (1 Jn. 3:4). There comes a point where one must quit sin utterly. Jesus told the man at the Bethesda pool and the prostitute whom he had healed and forgiven to “SIN NO MORE.” PERIOD (Jn. 15:14; 8:11). He also told the rich man that he WOULD NOT BE SAVED because of “ONE THING”–ONE SIN (Mk. 10:21). The man was given the opportunity to rid himself of that one sin. He refused. Billions have followed in His footsteps and will suffer the same consequences unless true repentance followed by the Jesus-levelwalk (1 Jn. 2:6) until the end (Mat. 10:22) takes place.

The problem with this Laodicean (end-time) era of the church is that the vast majority of those within her have never BECOME HEBREWS, CROSSED OVER, ENTERED GOD’S SHEEPFOLD THROUGH HIS STRAIT GATE AND WALKED THE NARROW WAY WHICH LEADS TO SALVATION (Mat. 7:13,14). Jesus prophesied that only a “few” would do so. Many, He warned, would enter Satan’s wide (come as you are) gate and walk his broad (stay as you are) way that leads to death. Note that both groups ENTER BY A GATE. Only God’s true saints enter through His gate–Jesus Christ. Read The Church, The Gospel and the Goats. Key word: Goats. Jesus tells us in Matthew 10:27 that both sheep and goats are in “the church” and will remain there until the day of judgment. At that time He will separate the sheep from the goats and award each one “ACCORDING TO HIS WORKS.” Yes, He said “WORKS” of obedience to His Law.

The word “WORKS” ALWAYS REFERS TO OBEDIENCE TO GOD’S LAW–the Law that was supposedly nailed to the cross. The Law defines both sin (if one breaks it) and righteousness (if one obeys it). The end result of one is death (Rom. 6:23); the end result of the other is life (Rom. 5:21). Note in Romans that one must come THROUGH JESUS CHRIST (THE DOOR/GATE) in order to receive eternal life. So-called “Sinners Saved By Grace” refute this, arguing that they can have dual citizenship in both Satan’s and God’s worlds. They can be both hot and cold–saints and sinners. Read Revelation 3:14-20 concerning the modern church whose members have no need to “cross over,” come through the “Door” and “walk” in agreement with God (Amos 3:3). NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER SATAN WIELDS OVER THE INSTITUTIONAL CHURCH. Having dealt with his parishioners for many years I can attest to the fact that his control over them is total. The more religious the parishioner, the more control he exerts over them, the angrier they become when someone shows them what God actually says and the more desperate they become trying to come up with a excuse to reject God’s Word.

Let us make sure we have “crossed over,” have “come through the strait gate” and are “walking the narrow path” that leads to the Kingdom of God. There is only way to be absolutely sure. It is found in First John 2:2 through 6. L.J.