I once heard an assistant pastor of a mainline church say that Jesus did not feel the lashes delivered to His body with the “cat of nine tales,” that He did not feel the nails being hammered through His wrists and feet, and that He did not feel the spear that ripped open His heart, causing Him to bleed to death.  This seminary-trained “Bible scholar” “knew” that what he had said was “truth” and beyond dispute.  My purpose in relating this story is to remind readers that they can hear any number of “Bible truths” within the church setting, most of which will be wrong.  I was told by a former seminary student that students there were being taught that Christ’s “virgin birth” was fiction.  Both of these Bible scholars were ministers in the denomination in which I was supposedly “saved” and in which I remained until my mid-thirties when God began to prepare me for this ministry.  Needless to say, I would not be welcomed there now.  In all honesty, I know of no church organization that would open its pulpit to me.  This tells me that I am on the right track.  Another “truth” coming from professing Christendom is that God cannot be made jealous because He has no equal competition for the affections of those in the church.  I also heard that “truth” proclaimed by yet another “Bible scholar.”

The purpose of this series is to expose that “truth” for what it is–a Satanic lie.  The Lord commands every apostle He calls, appoints and anoints to rebuke those whom Satan uses to spread his false doctrines (Eph. 5:11-17/ 2 Tim. 4:2).  In these verses the Apostle Paul exhorts God’s people to “prove what is acceptable to the Lord” by shedding His “light” (Word) upon the darkness (false light) of false Christians and false apostles whom He calls “fools.”  He tells Timothy (and all messengers) to preach THE (one and only) Gospel at all times, to reprove, rebuke and exhort those who proclaim false “truths,” even if we must suffer for doing so.  In verses 3 and 4 Paul tells the young evangelist to work constantly because the time would come was when people would not listen to God’s Truth, but would gather to themselves preachers who would scratch their itching ears by telling them what they want to hear.  THAT DAY HAS ARRIVED.  Jesus prophesied that the time would come when iniquity (Lawlessness) would abound, causing the “love of many to wax cold” (Mat. 24:20).  The church long ago “nailed the Law to the cross,” thereby proving that her love for God’s Word/Law had waxed cold.

Several years ago I wrote a newspaper article in which I quoted Bible passages verbatim in refuting a number of the church’s foundational “truths.”  A local preacher, when questioned about the article, replied that everything I had written in the article was true, but that he was taking his congregation in another direction.  Pastors in another church literally cried when they read the article.  Did they reverse course and lead their congregation to the Lord?  I doubt it, because that would have cost them their ministries.  To my knowledge, that has not happened.

Can God be made jealous?  Let us break with tradition; let us allow the Source Himself to tell us.  In Deuteronomy 4:23,24 Moses is speaking to God’s chosen people, reminding them of the covenant God had made with them, specifically that He forbade them to make for themselves “any graven (man-made) image, or the likeness of anything …, for He (God) is a consuming fire.  HE IS A JEALOUS GOD.”  Then in 5:6-9 God Himself speaks, telling Israel that they can have NO OTHER GODS BEFORE HIM.  In His view, A RELIGIOUS IMAGE IS ANOTHER GOD WHICH ONE HAS CHOSEN OVER HIM.  In verse 7 He calls man-made images “OTHER GODS.”  His people were, and still are, forbidden to make an image of anything on, beneath or above the earth or in the water.  In 6:15 He warns that He is a jealous God Who, in His anger, will destroy those who have anything to do with other gods.  In God’s view, to have anything to do with such an image is the same as bowing down to the image in worship.  Let us not forget that His view is the only one that counts.  HE SAID DON’T DO IT.  PERIOD.  CASE CLOSED.  Does the Institutional Church agree?  Sadly, no.  Neither did her ancient ancestors.

In 1 Kings 14:22,23 we learn that Judah did evil in the sight of God, provoking Him to anger by building high places (dirt mounds), erecting images and planting groves with which to honor their foreign gods.  In Ezekiel 8 we find God taking Ezekiel in spirit into the Temple and showing him the images of animal gods that the people had placed there–IN GOD’S HOUSE.  Women wept for the sun god (Tammuz) while men knelt toward the east where their god was slowly rising in the sky.

The question now becomes, what is a “graven image.”  The word “graven” means man-made.  “Image” is something that represents something else.  For example, the American flag represents the United States.  Unfortunately, the cross represents Christianity.  The cross was being used to represent a pagan god some 1200 years before the time of Christ.  Also, Christ did not die on a cross, but rather on a stake–a straight piece of wood, usually a tree trunk with all limbs removed.  His hands were tied together and a nail was driven through His wrists.  The same was true concerning His feet.  Such was the favored method of capital punishment among the Romans.  Read Did Jesus Die on a Cross?  Key word–cross.

That which identifies itself as “Christianity” constantly stokes God’s anger by making and using a variety of graven images in their supposed worship of Him.  In fact, they unwittingly worship the image.  Crosses, fish, pictures, statues, colored windows, steepled roofs, prayer beads, Christmas trees, colored eggs, genuflexing, kissing the thumb, etc. are all objects of God’s wrath.  Read Simon of Samaria: The Legacy for an in-depth study of these and many more church practices and images.

A word concerning the Supreme Court case brought by the football coach who was fired for kneeling on the field after the games were over.  Regarding all such actions, Jesus told His disciples (then and now) to not pray while standing on street corners, that those who do are getting all the reward (attention) they are going to get (Mat. 6:2).  It is written about the coming Messiah that He would not draw attention to Himself, that “His voice will not be heard in the streets” (Isa. 42:1,2/ Mat. 12:19).  Concerning prayer, we have instructions from Jesus Himself.  We are not to make a public display of praying.  Instead, we are to enter into our closet (private room), shut the door pray to our Father who is in secret (Mat 6:6–read vs 5 also).

It does not matter WHY some people openly pray in a public places, the God to Whom they pray said: DON’T DO IT.  PERIOD.  CASE CLOSED.  L.J.