In the first posting on this subject we learned that, because 1) God is a spirit, 2) spirits cannot die, therefore the Word had to become a human being in order to die for the sins of human beings. In this posting we will examine the second part of the answer to the question found in the title of the series. As stated earlier, this is the part of the answer that professing Christendom refuses to accept.

Jesus of Nazareth was born of a woman, making him a “Son of man(kind)” while on earth. Being totally man, His life was no different from any other man. His potential for holiness, power, etc. was no different from the potential of anyone else. Everything He did, said and thought were from God His Father. True sons of God have the same Father who is “no respecter of persons” (Rom. 2:11/ Acts 10:34/ Eph. 6:9/ Col. 3:25). For this reason Jesus said: “He who believes in Me, the things that I do He will do also, and greater things than these will he do” (Jn. 14:12). Unless He is the liar the counterfeit church makes Him and His Father out to be (read Lk. 10:16), that statement is true, along with others that will be presented in this posting. Now let us carefully examine the second reason the Word (one-half of the eternal Godhead) had to become Jesus the carpenter of Nazareth.

Jesus came to earth as a man and lived socially, physically, materially, etc. as a man in order to prove that He was 100% human. Why did the Father deem this to be necessary? JESUS LIVED AS HE DID IN ORDER TO PROVE THAT EVERYTHING HE DID AS A HUMAN BEING COULD BE DONE BY ANY OTHER HUMAN BEING WITH THE EXCEPTION OF TAKING MAN’S SINS UPON HIMSELF. This is the summation of reason #2 for coming to earth as a human being. Simply stated: JESUS BECAME WHO HE WAS, LIVED AS HE LIVED AND DID WHAT HE DID AS A HUMAN BEING IN ORDER TO SHOW MAN WHAT MAN COULD BE AND DO IN THIS LIFE. HIS LIFE AS A MAN PROVED TO MAN THAT MAN CAN LIVE AS HE LIVED IN THIS LIFE, AND IN SO DOING, BE ALLOWED TO LIVE IN THE NEXT LIFE WITH HIM AND HIS FATHER IN PARADISE. THE HUMAN JESUS WAS IN THIS LIFE REVEALS WHAT ANY OTHER HUMAN CAN AND MUST BE IN THIS LIFE IN ORDER TO LIVE WITH HIM FOREVER IN THE NEXT LIFE.

This is the point where salvation seekers reject God’s strait gate and narrow path and enter into Satan’s wide gate and broad path being totally convinced by his salvation hucksters (false prophets) that they (false converts) have entered God’s gate and are walking His path. Read Bait and Switch. Key word–Bait. The question then becomes: WHY DO SALVATION SEEKERS REJECT GOD’S BIBLICAL CHURCH AND PATE AND EMBRACE SATAN’S CHURCH AND ITS NUMEROUS PATHS?

The church masses have chosen to embrace their own church’s doctrines and walk their own ways instead of God’s Biblical doctrine and His singular way BECAUSE GOD OFFERS A NO-OPTIONS, “TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT–MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY” WAY. In God’s church man has no say. There is no voting among God’s people. God’s will is spoken and enforced by His servant–the pastor He has appointed. The people under his authority. There is no choosing of pastors by the congregation in that God raises up the MAN He has chosen to lead the congregation, to whom He gives absolute authority over the spiritual conduct of the congregation. If the pastor goes wrong, God deals with him, corrects him, etc. If he refuses correction, God removes him. In God’s church there are no committee decisions relative to the Truth and the ministry that proclaims it. The church’s doctrine is God’s Word. The pastor sets the Scriptural tone for all teaching, preaching, etc. Teachers, evangelists, etc. follow the direction of the pastor as does the congregation.

This colossal failure is ground zero for the church’s many problems. The reason for the church’s apostasy (falling away from God–2 Thes. 2:3) can be summed up in one word: AUTHORITY. God has it; man demands it; Satan gives it to man; man has many variations of it. This has produced the dual-headed, multi-bodied, multi-truthed religious dung heap which passes itself off as “the church.” Satan is the straw that stirs the church drink. He is the power behind her existence and the author of many, if not most of her “truths.”

This truth was highlighted by Jesus in a conversation He had with the Disciple Peter as recorded in Mark 8:33. Peter has just rebuked Jesus for something He has said. Jesus, knowing that Satan has taken over the disciple’s mind, speaks to him (Satan), saying: “Get behind me, Satan, FOR YOU DO NOT CARE FOR THE THINGS OF GOD, BUT FOR THE THINGS OF MAN.” Satan keeps religious man under his control by giving him what he wants. As Jesus said, Satan allows man to believe that he (man) is in control of all things religious. Man wants control over his religious life. He wants to determine right and wrong, good and evil. As God said in Genesis 3:22, by believing and obeying Satan, man had, “… become as one of Us, able to determine good and evil.” Man has been doing so ever since. The result is the Satan-dominated religious morass today known as “the church.”

The church has become a religious sewer because MAN DEMANDS TO BE IN CHARGE. THE DESIRE OF SELF-DIRECTION IS WHAT SWAYED ADAM AND EVE TO DEFY GOD AND FOLLOW SATAN. THE SAME HELD TRUE IN THE CASE OF NOAH, “A PREACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.” THE PEOPLE REJECTED GOD’S MESSAGE AND CHOOSE TO MAKE THEIR OWN RULES, WHICH IS WHY GOD KILLED EVERYONE EXCEPT NOAH AND HIS FAMILY. MAN STILL DEMANDS CONTROL OF HIS MORAL DIRECTION. AS A RESULT, PROFESSING CHRISTENDOM IS COMPRISED OF HUNDREDS OF SELF-PROCLAIMED “CHURCHES.” EACH “CHURCH” HAS ITS OWN GOD, ITS OWN CHRIST, ITS OWN TRUTHS, ITS OWN NAME, ITS OWN MEETING PLACE, ETC. MAN IS IN CONTROL, THANKS TO SATAN WHO IS THE HEAD GOD OVER THE CHURCH’S “MANY GODS AND MANY LORDS” (1 COR. 8:5). Because man has replaced God as the decision-making entity in religious matters, churchman is an idolator.

I will end this series with a few Scriptural reasons why paradise seekers reject God’s Gospel in favor of Satan’s numerous perverted versions of the True Gospel. For this reason, churchman is “ever learning but never accepting the Truth of God” (2 Tim. 2:15). Religious man, having “nailed the Law to the cross,” refuses to keep the Ten Commandment Law of God. For this reason there is no spiritual difference between Satan’s world and the church world. The following consists of a number of Scriptural passages which salvation seekers refuse to accept as God’s Gospel Truth because they place God in charge of the true Christian’s life

John 8:31: “You are My disciples indeed IF you obey My commandments.” John 14:15,23: “IF you love Me, obey My commandments/Words.” Matthew 19:17: “IF you would have eternal life, obey the commandments, just as I (Jesus) have obeyed the commandments and have eternal life.” First John 2:2:3-6: “We know that we know Him IF we keep His commandments …. The love of God is perfected in us IF we keep His commandments. We know that we are in Him (Christ) IF we keep His commandments and walk as He walked.” First Peter 4:17,18: “Judgment begins in the church … and ONLY THE RIGHTEOUS will be saved, and they just barely.” Romans 8:14: “Only those who are LED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD are true sons of God.” Matthew 15:9: “IN VAIN do they worship Me when they reject My commandments and embrace man’s doctrines.” John 15:13,14: “I will die for My friends. You are My friends IF you do whatsoever I command you.” Luke 6:46: “Why do you call Me your Lord and refuse to do what I command you to do?” James 1:22: “Those who hear the Law but refuse to obey it are deceiving themselves.” Matthew 7:23: “I never knew you; depart from Me you workers of iniquity (Law-breakers). Hebrews 6:6: “Those who continue to sin after coming to know the Lord crucify Him afresh (again) with each sin.” Isaiah 58:13: “The (7th day) Sabbath is My Holy Day” which He “blessed” and “sanctified” (Gen. 2:3), which He came to earth to “magnify” and “make honorable–again (Isa. 42:21). Deuteronomy 5:1,9; 7:9,10: “They who reject my Law “hate me.” “I reveal My love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep My commandments.” God keeps His covenant with those who love Him, but destroys those who hate Him (by not obeying His Law). First Peter 1:15,16: “As He Who called you is holy, be ye holy in all aspects of life. Be ye holy for I am holy.” James 2:10,14,16,17,18,20,24,26: Faith without works is dead faith. We prove our faith by our works of righteousness (obedience to God’s Word). FAITH WITHOUT WORKS CANNOT SAVE THE SOUL (vs 14).

As a man Jesus met every one of God’s requirements. He became a man to show us that we can “walk as He walked,” WHICH WE MUST DO IN ORDER TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE. As He said in John 14:12: “He who believes in Me, the things I do will he do also, and greater things than these will he do.” Contrary to universal church belief, FAITH IN JESUS IS NOT ENOUGH. As the Apostle James tells us in chapter two, belief (faith) in the Lord is meaningless without WORKS of faith which means obedience to that in which we have faith–the Word of God. Romans 10:19 tells us that FAITH IS TAKING GOD AT HIS WORD AND OBEYING IT. This is the works God requires in order to live eternally with Him in paradise.

The above reveals why church people reject God’s Words. Man wants to make and enforce his own rules man must follow. Man refuses to accept the Bible Truth that WE MUST WALK AS JESUS WALKED IN THIS LIFE IN ORDER TO WALK WITH HIM IN THE NEXT LIFE. Churchman refuses to believe this Bible Truth. His mantra of “Only believe and repent” keeps a smile on Satan’s face. L.J.