“None of the wicked shall understand; but the Wise shall understand” (Daniel 12:10)
In this paper I’m going to briefly outline just twelve truths of Scripture from many that God has shown me over the years. I try to apply these truths to all subjects that I write about. More than just truths, I look upon them as spiritual commandments from God, absolutely necessary in rightly dividing the Word of Truth. My hope and my prayer is that God will grace you with a spirit of wisdom to comprehend these marvelous revelations of Scripture.
I have received countless emails over the years in which my detractors inform me that the Scriptures are easy to understand: all one has to do is read them.
That’s not true. Billions of Christians “read” the Scriptures, but have not a clue as to what they mean. And one of the biggest problems in not understanding what they have read is that they do not believe the Scriptures. And why don’t they believe? Because their shepherds have deceived them into believing that Christian doctrines take precedent over the Scriptures.
I know of not one Christian doctrine that is completely Scriptural. Not one. And that includes, SDA’s, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Christian Science, and every other institutionalized church and denomination of manmade creeds. These truths that I am presenting here are “creed busters.” They destroy the doctrines of men. They make the wisdom of religion look incredibly stupid. God’s truths are like treasures hidden in a field. We must buy the field and then diligently search out the treasure. The following twelve truths of Scripture could make you every spiritually wealthy.
TRUTH NUMBER 1
[A] “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the Last Adam [Jesus Christ] was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is NATURAL; and afterward that which is SPIRITUAL” (I Cor. 15:45-46).
[B] “It is sown [first] a NATURAL BODY [a physical body which dies]; it is raised [afterward] a SPIRITUAL BODY [which is made immortal and never dies]…” (I Cor. 15:44).
[C] “Who shall change our [first] VILE BODY, that it may be fashioned like unto His [afterward] GLORIOUS BODY…” (Phil. 3:21).
[D] “If I have told you EARTHLY things [first], and you believe not, how shall you believe, if I tell you of HEAVENLY [spiritual] things [afterward]?” (John 3:12).
The sequence of God’s plan of salvation for mankind is most important—First is the physical and then comes the spiritual.
Without the knowledge of this principle of Scripture, it is impossible to understand what man is and what is his destiny. Have you not been taught that the first Adam was indeed a “quickening, living, immortal spirit,” and that afterward, at the resurrection; his immortal soul will be given an ETERNAL PHYSICAL BODY? (Then there is also the ungodly doctrine called the “Law of Circularity” which teaches that we have always existed as spirits, and are now spirits having a physical experience—just the opposite of the truth).
It was the natural body of Adam that became a living soul after God breathed into him. And that living soul was subject to death (Gen. 2:17 and Ezek. 18:4 & 20). Even this simple, straight-forward truth of Scripture is universally denied.
God said that Adam would “SURELY die” (Gen. 2:17). But most have been taught that Adam was an immortal, spiritual soul that can NEVER, EVER DIE. I just received a DVD from Internationally famous, self-styled prophet, Jack Van Impe, in which it is stated: “Once we are born, WE NEVER DIE.” Jack Van Impe parrots that Old Serpent who told the world’s first recorded lie, when he said: “you shall NOT SURELY die” (Gen. 3:4)
It is universally taught (and believed) that Adam and Eve were already formed and created in the very spiritual image of God way back in the garden. This is not, however, how the Hebrew manuscripts read, as a perfect creature formed in the very spiritual image of God, that not only does not sin, but cannot sin. The reason that Jesus (made unto sinful flesh) did not sin, was not that He could not sin, but rather His Father WOULD NOT LET HIM SIN. Jesus was born with a physical body, and therefore that body had to die. But I assure you that Jesus did not possess a “carnal mind” in that body of flesh. He sinned NOT.
Making mankind into God’s own Image is a process that involves a lifetime of trials and tribulations that includes the crucifying and mortifying of the carnal human mind and body. I realize that from the King James and many modern translations it sounds like it was a “past tense” made in His image at creation, but actually it was not. Gen. 1:26-27 is equivalent to our English imperfect. Here is how one Version translates it:
“And saying is God, Make WILL WE [a continuing action] humanity in Our image…”
and
“And CREATING [a continuing action] is God humanity in His image” (Gen. 1:26a & 27a Concordant Literal Old Testament),
Man is not a “spirit being” having a “physical” experience, but rather man is a “physical and mortal” being having a “spiritual” experience. We are first born mortal [physical], but in the resurrection God gives us immortality (the spiritual). Throw away this marvelous truth of Scripture, and you will be as deceived as Kenneth Copeland when he stated that when Adam was created, he was so shining, so glorious, so spiritual, so GOD-like, that one could not even see his body for the glorious radiance of his spirituality. Oh really? And is that why he was “naked,” although he “…knew not that he was wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and NAKED” (Gen. 3: 7 versus Rev. 3:17)?
Just prior to Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit, we read that Eve:
“…saw that the tree was good for food [‘the lust of the flesh,’ I John 2:16],
and that it was pleasant to the eyes [‘the lust of the eyes,’ I John 2:16],
and a tree to be desired to make one wise [‘the pride of life,’ I John 2:16],
she did eat… and he did eat” (Gen. 3:6).
It is not just the eating of the fruit that was a sin, but the “lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life” that went before the eating. And just why where they so filled with sin at their very creation? Because they were in the “perfect spiritual image of GOD?” Poppycock. They were natural, physical, carnal, and “…the carnal mind [with which Adam and Eve were created] is enmity [hatred] against God, for it is not subject to the law of God [‘But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it…’ Gen. 2:17], neither indeed can be” (Rom. 8:7).
So, do the Scriptures really teach what the world has been taught—that Adam and Eve were made into the perfect spiritual “image of God?” Get real.
Here is how GOD says He created Adam and Eve:
“For the creature was made subject to vanity [King James Margin: "futility"], not willingly, but by reason of Him [God] Who has subjected [Gk: ‘subjects’—aorist tense—subjecting is still going on] the same in hope” (Rom. 8:20).
In Dante’s inferno, “all hope is gone…,” but in God’s realm He subjects the entire creation “…in HOPE,”
God willfully, wantingly, knowingly, purposely, and wisely, created mankind “subject to vanity,” subject to failure, but beyond the failure, God also subjects the same in “hope.” Once again, contrary to all orthodox doctrine, there is hope for all of God’s carnal-minded, God-hating people on planet Earth. God Himself says so, in the same breath: “because the creature itself [the same creation that God subjects to vanity, futility, failure, and carnal-minded hatred against God] also shall be [ah, did you catch that? ‘shall be’], delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21). Do you believe the Scriptures? Really—what about this one?
And so God, “made the creature subject to vanity”—failure, but later in mankind’s development, the creature “shall be“— [future tense]… shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption.” Ah yes, God created them in a condition of “bondage” and “corruption,” and therefore not “immortal” as is taught, but rather in “bondage of corruption.” But thanks to God, in the resurrection of the dead, ‘…this corruption must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality’ (I Cor. 15:54).
Yes, of course, first comes the PHYSICAL (death), and then the SPIRITUAL (life). There it is—the hope of all humanity. Corruption and mortality (the physical first) must put on incorruption and immortality [the afterward spiritual).
TRUTH NUMBER 2
[A] “All these things spoke Jesus unto the multitude in PARABLES; and without a parable spoke He not unto them” (Matt. 13:34).
[B] “But without a PARABLE spoke He not unto them…” (Mark 4:34).
[C] “This PARABLE spoke Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which He spoke unto them” (John 10:6).
Jesus taught in parables only, and no one understood His parables, hence Jesus taught in a way that He knew no one would understand His message. This truth of Scripture is so revolutionary to the minds of most Christians that many will think it blasphemy, and yet the Scriptures abound with statements that fully support it.
I heard Matt Croach (elder son of TBN President, Paul Croach) state on international television that Jesus spoke in parables to make the meaning of His teachings simple and clear and understandable to the simple farmers and uneducated people of Judea. My Wycliffe Bible Dictionary has a similar explanation: “Purpose of parables. The obvious purpose of Jesus’ use of parables was to make spiritual truth clear and compelling.” What a crock.
Is anyone interested in what Jesus Himself had to say about His use of Parables? Good. Here it is:
“And the disciples came, and said unto Him, Why do you speak unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but unto them it is not given” (Matt. 13:10-11).
Now then, does anyone see any similarity between “to make spiritual truth clear and compelling,” and “…but unto them it is not given?” No? Neither do I. What I see is a diametric opposite. What I see is a flat out contradiction between Christian teachers and the Word of God.
“Jesus spoke in parables to make His quaint little stories clear and understandable to the uneducated farmers of Judea,” my foot: “and when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard His parables, they perceived that He spoke of them” (Matt. 21:45). The Chief Priests and Pharisees were generally highly educated people. But even they didn’t know what Jesus’ parables really meant, but they on one occasion at least, “perceived” that Jesus was speaking about them.
So surely, if Jesus’ parables were “clear and compelling” to the uneducated farmers of Judea, then they would be even more so to His own disciples, not?
“Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and His disciples came unto Him, saying, Declare [expound, define, explain] unto us the parable of the tares of the field” (Matt. 13:36).
Even Jesus’ Own disciples had to have these parables explained to them. And just how did Jesus “declare” these parables to His Own disciples? You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. You wouldn’t believe me if I showed you. Okay, here’s how Jesus explained His parable. He explained His parable to His disciples by telling them ANOTHER PARABLE! I told you that you wouldn’t believe me. More on this later.
This is another one of those marvelous spiritual truths of Scripture, which you will never hear explained in the Church. Just what do they teach all these future clergymen in seminary? The fact is, Jesus did not want the people to understand Him and Jesus did not want them to repent and Jesus did not want to spiritually heal or save them. He clearly said so. But why? Because God has a plan that involves calling MANY, but choosing out only a FEW.
“For whosoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever has not, from him shall be taken away even that he has” (Matt. 13:12).
Does anyone understand what Jesus just said here? Probably not too many, for this too, is a parable explaining a parable—and no one understood either. I wish they would let me teach a few classes at seminary.
“Therefore speak I to them in parables, because they seeing, see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah… for this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should BE CONVERTED, AND I SHOULD HEAL [SAVE] THEM” (Verses 13-15).
Wow! Jesus didn’t want them to understand and He didn’t want to convert them and He didn’t want to save them. How could Isaiah’s prophecy be true if Jesus were to contradict it by teaching them plainly so that they could understand and repent? Now, that’s what Jesus said, and that’s what Isaiah said, but there’s a problem:
“But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah said, Lord, who has believed our report?” (Rom. 10:16).
Yes, who? Have you believed this report I have just given you? It is almost frightening how few truly believe God’s Scriptural reports. Hence, precious few believe and understand the Scriptures, and fewer yet, obey them.
There is good news, however, concerning the Parables, which virtually no one understands, and it is this:
“And when He was alone, they that were about Him with the twelve asked of Him the parable. And He said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables.” (Mark 4:10-11).
I have never met a Christian in my life that believes this verse. Not one. They all have told me that Jesus spoke many times, in fact most of the time, in plain language to the multitudes and the people, and not in parables only.
Hey, I’m glad that it is they who are contradicting Jesus and not I. Add to this denial the heresy that anyone can at any time, accept Jesus and believe, and then be saved. Jesus says they can’t; the Church says regardless of what Jesus says, they can. Who ya gonna believe?
Continuing:
“That seeing they may see, and not perceive: and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted and their sins should be forgiven them. And He said unto them. Know ye not this parable? And how then will you know all parables?” (Verse 12-13).
Say, did you get that? If you would know but one parable, you would know all parables! This is because all parables are speaking of the same subject, just presented from different perspectives. Wouldn’t you just love to know just one parable so that you could know all parables?
What is so utterly amazing is that not only does the Church not understand all of the parables of Jesus, but, they do not even understand the parables which Jesus explained. I assure you that I am as serious as I could ever be when I say that. In a future paper I will explain what all the parables mean. But for now, just understand, that Jesus’ entire ministry was preached in such a way that no one would understand Him, except to those very few to whom it was later (much later—see Truth Number 3) given to understand. Pray that God will grant you spiritual understanding of His parables, or you too, will “…understand not.”
TRUTH NUMBER 3
[A] “Therefore speak I to them in parables, because they seeing SEE NOT: and hearing they HEAR NOT, NEITHER DO THEY UNDERSTAND” (Matt. 13:13).
[B] “How is it that you [disciples] DO NOT UNDERSTAND…” (Matt. 16:11).
[C] “But they [the disciples] UNDERSTOOD NOT this saying, and it was HID from them…” (Luke 9:45).
What was it that Christ’s disciples and apostles understood not? Surely they understood His spiritual teachings, did they not? What is it that they “…understood NOT” about Jesus’ sayings? Truth number 3 will reveal this shocking truth to us.
That Jesus hid the meaning of his teachings from the masses, we have clearly been told already in Truth #2. But now I am going to show you something even more profound. Most in fact, will not believe the Scriptures before their own eyes.
The King James “parables” to the masses and the “proverbs” to the Apostles is translated from the very same Greek word:
Both “parable” and “proverb” are translated from the Greek— G3850 parabole par-ab-ol-ay’ From G3846; a similitude (”parable”), that is, (symbolically) fictitious narrative (of common life conveying a moral), apoth gm or adage: - comparison, figure, parable, proverb.
This is really childish that I should even have to explain to Christians that a “parabolay” really is a “FICTITIOUS narrative, and therefore is not a literal story at all. Oh what religion has done to otherwise perfectly sane minds.
Just for the record, here are just a few of the definitions of “fictitious” from my dictionary: “fictitious, adj, artificial, feigned, fiction, imaginary, syn, false, fabrication, deception, incredible [unbelievable], impossibility, nonexistent, invented, distortion of historical facts” etc., etc., etc. From: Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition, page 465.
How many reading this paper will now believe and concede that parables are not literally true stories? Virtually none. As I have said for a long time now: “Christendom is a religion of contradictions and square circles.” And they love to have it so.
That Jesus taught the multitudes including the Scribes and Pharisees in “parables” [parabolay] which means: “FICTITIOUS narratives,” is stated numerous times in the Scriptures. And clearly the multitudes along with the Scribes and Pharisees did not understand any of it.
Actually the Bible as a whole is one giant parable. Tis true, but I don’t have time to go into that right now.
And now for the shocker of shockers: Ask any Christian and he will tell you: “Jesus taught His disciples in “plain, literal, simple language.” Maybe the multitudes, the masses, the Scribes and the Pharisees, didn’t understand Christ’s teachings, but surely the Apostles understood His teachings. Oh really? And do we have chapter and verse on that? Do we have two witnesses on that? No we don’t because it isn’t true.
Here’s how Jesus taught His own disciples, even in private:
“These things have I spoken unto you in PROVERBS: but the time comes [not yet, but in the future] when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall show you PLAINLY of the Father” (John 16:25).
By Jesus’ own admission, He didn’t teach or speak to even His Own apostles “plainly.”
Now for a little humor: After Jesus spoke these words to His apostles He explains how He came out from the Father into the world and that He would again leave this world and that He would then plainly make known to them the Father. Not wanting to admit to their total ignorance of what Jesus was saying:
“His disciples said unto Him, Lo NOW SPEAK YOU PLAINLY, AND SPEAK NO PROVERB. Now ARE WE SURE THAT You know all things, and need not that any man should ask You: by this we believe that You came forth from God” (John 16:29-30).
Jesus responded: “Oh really?” Well, those are not His exact words (that is what I would have said). Jesus responded: “DO you NOW believe?” (Verse 31). Of course they didn’t. They had not a clue as to what Jesus was spiritually saying.
The word for “plainly” is taken from the Greek—G3954 a parrhe�sia par-rhay-see’-ah From G3956 and a derivative of G4483; all out spokenness, that is, frankness, bluntness, publicity; by implication assurance: - bold (X -ly, -ness, -ness of speech), confidence, X freely, X openly, X plainly (-ness).
So Jesus promised that at some time in the future He would speak to them no longer in proverbs, but “plainly”—frankness, bluntness, assurance, confidently, feely, openly. Hence His “proverbs” were NOT, frank, blunt, assured, confident, free, open, and plain! No wonder the disciples and even the Apostles “understood not” the teachings of Jesus Christ. Do we have any “witnesses” or “spiritual matches” to that effect? Many:
“And when He was alone, they that were about Him with the twelve asked of Him [and why did they ‘ask Him?’ because they did not know or understand His parables] the parable… And he said unto them, Know you NOT this parable? [Why of course they did not know this parable] and how then will ye know all parables?” (Mark 4:10 & 13).
To know “all parables,” they needed to know “this parable.” But since they clearly and admittedly did not know “this parable,” neither did they know any of the parables. The Apostles of Jesus Christ followed Jesus for three and one half years, and never understood the parables, even though they understood certain principles contained in a few parables.
The multitudes did not understand Jesus’ parables; the Scribes and Pharisees did not understand Jesus’ parables; the hundreds of disciples did not understand Jesus’ parables, and as unbelievable as it may sound, not even the APOSTLES understood Jesus’ parables. Now get ready00 for another shock:
Not only did none of the above including the Apostles themselves, understand any of Jesus’ parables, but they did not understand the parables after Jesus EXPLAINED the parables! And how is such a thing even possible? Well, get ready for an even greater shock:
The reason they didn’t understand the parables even after Jesus explained them, is because Jesus explained His parables WITH ANOTHER PARABLE! That’s right, Jesus explained the parables that the Apostles themselves didn’t understand, by another parable, which they also did not understand.
In Matt. 13:10, we read, “And the disciples came, and said unto Him, Why speak you unto them in parables?” In verse 11 Jesus said it is given to His disciples to understand (but He didn’t say WHEN it was given for them to understand), and then in verse 12 Jesus says:
“For whosoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever has not, from him shall be taken away even that he has.”
In other words, another parable. Jesus explained the first parable that they didn’t understand with another parable, which they did not understand.
A little later:
“Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house, and His disciples came unto Him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. He answered and said unto them, He that sows the good seed is the Son of man: the field is the world…,”
Etc., etc., which is nothing more than yet another parable to explain a previous parable.
Jesus does not explain “the children of the kingdom,” “the children of the wicked one,” “the devil,” “the reaper angels,” “the end of the world,” “The Son of man,” “furnace of fire,” “the kingdom of their Father,” anymore than He explained what the first version of the parable was, and therefore, He had to add this to the end of His explanation: “Who has ears to hear, let him hear.” But none there had “ears to ear,” as we shall now see conclusively proven.
After several more parables:
“Jesus said unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, YEA, Lord” (Matt. 13:51).
They understood nothing.
In chapter 15 we read:
“And He called the multitude, and said unto them, hear, and understand” (Matt. 15:10).
And He gives them another parable. Then Peter questions this parable,
“Then answered Peter and said unto Him, Declare unto US this parable. And Jesus said, Are ye ALSO yet without understanding? Do NOT ye yet understand…?” (Verses 15, 16, 17a).
Yes, the multitudes and the disciples “also” were without understanding.
In the next chapter we read this:
“Then Jesus said unto them [His disciples], Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves, Saying, It is because we have taken no bread. Which when Jesus perceived, He said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves because he have brought no bread? Do ye NOT YET UNDERSTAND; How is it that you DO NOT UNDERSTAND?” (Matt. 16:6-9a & 11).
Then in verse 11 it says they understood that Jesus meant the “doctrines” of the Pharisees, but they still didn’t know what the doctrines of the Pharisees were.
“And He [Jesus] said unto them [His disciples], How is it that YE DO NOT UNDERSTAND?” (Mark 8:21).
“But THEY UNDERSTOOD NOT that saying, and were afraid to ask Him” (Mark 9:32).
Jesus said unto His disciples:
“Let these sayings sink down into your ears… But THEY UNDERSTOOD NOT this saying, and it was HID from them, that they perceived it NOT; and they feared to ask Him of that saying” (Luke 9:44-45).
“These things UNDERSTOOD NOT His disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified [after His resurrection] then remembered they that these things were written of Him…” (John 12:16).
Three and one half years Jesus taught His disciples. Three and one half years they heard Him teach in the synagogues hundreds of times. Yet, how much did they truly understand?
“Then He took unto Him the twelve, and said unto them. Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and ALL THINGS that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished… and THEY UNDERSTOOD NONE of these things: and this saying was HID from them, NEITHER KNEW they the things which were spoken” (Luke 18:31-34).
How many things written in the prophets concerning the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus did the disciples understand? “NONE.”
At Jesus’ last meeting after His resurrection with His apostles we read:
“And He said unto them, These are the words which I spoke unto you while I was yet with you [words which they never understood] that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning Me [in other words, the entire Hebrew Scriptures]. Then [When? ‘THEN.’ Not during their three and one half years of learning at His feet? NO, ‘then’] opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures [ALL of the Scriptures]” (Luke 24:44-45).
Why did Jesus reveal His message, His gospel, His kingdom, His word to so very few people? Christ’s answer is much harder for most to believe than the parables themselves:
“And the disciples came, and said unto Him, WHY speak You unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven [not at that precise time, but eventually, after His resurrection] but to them it is not given [not then OR later]. For whosoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever has not, from him shall be taken away even that he has [another parable answers the reason for parables]. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand [here Jesus gives us a parable within a riddle].
“And in them [and in all future generations down through the centuries, save a very small elect few] is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says, By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart [the people’s heart in Isaiah’s day, Christ’s day, through the generations, and in our day] is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should HEAL them [SAVE them].
“But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men [all the patriarchs of the Old Testament] have desired to see those things which you see, and have NOT seen them, and to hear those things which you hear, and have NOT heard them” (Matt. 13:10-17).
I doubt that many of my readers are comprehending the marvelous truths contained in the above passages. The prophets THEMSELVES (even Isaiah himself), desired to see these things, but did NOT see them. All of the Apostles and New Testament writers understood that the patriarchs of old including the prophets themselves, did not understand their own prophesies, therefore they were not converted, and they are not saved. These things are for those who come after Christ, not before:
“Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto YOU [not unto them!]: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the suffering of Christ, and the glory that should follow [not come BEFORE, in their day and time].
“Unto whom it was revealed, that NOT unto themselves, but unto US they did minister [‘for OUR admonition upon whom the ends of the ages are come, I Cor. 10:11] the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto YOU at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (I Pet. 1:10-13).
Therefore I repeat once more:
“And these all [all the saints and all the prophets, Ver. 32], having obtained a good report through faith, received NOT the promise: God having provided some better thing FOR US, that they without US should NOT be made perfect [be saved]” (Heb. 11:39-40).
These and many more Scriptures prove the Church’s teaching that people who die unsaved will never be saved, is a damnable heresy. Until you concede in your heart that neither the parables nor the interpretation of the parables are literal, you will know no more of the plan of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ than the Apostles did before they were converted and had God’s Holy Spirit.
TRUTH NUMBER 4
[A] “Inasmuch as ye [all you] have done it unto one of the least of these My BRETHREN, ye have done it unto ME… Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these [My brethren], ye did it not to ME” (Matt. 26:40b & 45b).
[B] “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning HIMSELF” (Luke 24:27).
[C] “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to FULFILL” (Matt. 5:17).
[D] “I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and ye took Me not: but the Scriptures MUST BE FULFILLED” (mark 14:49).
[E] “After this, Jesus knowing that ALL THINGS were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be FULFILLED, said, I thirst” (John 19:28).
[F] “Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into DEATH: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so WE also should walk in newness of life… I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ LIVES IN ME: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Rom. 6:4 & Gal. 2:20).
[G] “Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted Me, they will persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also… Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He [Jesus] IS, SO ARE WE IN THE WORLD…” (John 15:20 & I John 4:17).
Contained in these few Scriptures is the reason why the Church has not a clue as to what the plan and purpose of God is, or how the Scriptures are applied to the working out of that purpose. How did Jesus “fulfill” the Scriptures? By fulfilling the 44 Scriptures listed in the back of Strong’s Concordance concerning the coming Messiah? Forty-four Scriptures only? Those 44 Scriptures are truly, not even the tip of the iceberg.
What Christ did could not be put into books—the whole [kosmos] could not contain it.
Jesus did not fulfill the sacrificed sin offering only. Jesus was not merely one offering, but the many offerings, burnt offerings, the meat offering, the peace offerings, the trespass offering, and the sin offering. Jesus also prefigured the priest doing the offering, the meaning of each offering, the compartments and furniture of the tabernacle, the bread, the candles, the curtain, the ark of the covenant, the tabernacle itself, and the whole nation of Israel—Jesus prefigures all and FULFILLED ALL.
No one could comprehend every verse in the Old Testament Scriptures that represented Jesus, but they could learn the PRINCIPLE by which Jesus fulfilled all the law and all the prophets. And that is how the apostles and the two disciples on the road to Emmaus had their understanding of the Scriptures opened in just a very short time. When the Scriptures speak of Israel they speak of Jesus, and when they speak of Jesus they speak of us, for “…as Jesus is, so are we in the world” (I John 4:17).
And that is the simple explanation of this marvelous truth. The Scriptures speak of far more than just the prophesies of Jesus coming as the Messiah.
We are all in Adam. We do all that Adam did. We believe in the Spirit what Israel lived in the flesh. All Israel was baptized in the Red Sea. We are all baptized into Christ’s death. And now the last Adam (Christ) lives His life in us (Gal. 2:20), but not until we repent of the first Adam of the flesh living his life in us.
“Then opened He their UNDERSTANDING, that they might UNDERSTAND the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45);
“Consider what I say: and the Lord give you UNDERSTANDING in all things” (II Tim. 2:7).
“And we know that the Son of God is come, and has given us an UNDERSTANDING, that we may know Him that is True…” (I John 5:20).
“And you shall know [Gk: ‘sure understanding’—but future] the truth, and the truth shall make [future] you free” (John 8:32)
For three and one-half years Jesus promised that some day His apostles would know the truth. But clear to the end of three and one-half years of learning at the feet of Jesus, the Apostles did not yet understand His teaching, purpose or plan. One day they were blind to these truths, and the next they understood. How is that possible?
We have clearly seen that Jesus kept the real meaning and truths of His teaching from the masses, the church leaders, His disciples and even His apostles. Late in Christ’s ministry, we are told that:
“And they understood NONE OF THESE THINGS: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the THINGS WHICH WERE SPOKEN” (Luke 18:34).
But after His resurrection, Luke tells us that:
“THEN opened He their understanding, that they might understand THE SCRIPTURES: (Luke 24:45).
Maybe, TODAY, will be the day that God begins to “open your understanding of the Scriptures.”
Jesus said to His disciples:
“…ALL THINGS must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, CONCERNING ME. Then opened He their understanding…” (Luke 24:44-45).
In the first section, the Law of Moses, Strong’s Concordance gives four entries of things Jesus fulfilled from these five books:
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“…her Seed” (Gen. 3:15);
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“In you [Abraham] all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3);
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“…with him [Isaac] for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him” (Gen. 17:19);
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“…a Star shall come out of Jacob; a Scepter shall rise out of Israel…” (Num. 24:17). And that’s it.
Why they don’t even mention the fact that there was to come a Prophet like unto Moses:
“The Lord thy God will raise up unto you a Prophet from the midst of you, of your brethren, like unto me [Moses] unto Him ye shall hearken” (Deut. 18:15 & Acts 7:22).
If they missed that one, just imagine how many of hundreds of smaller prophecies regarding Christ they missed.
Understand that what is recorded for us in the gospels is but a very tiny portion of what actually was taught and happened in Christ’s life and ministry:
“And with MANY such parables spoke He the word unto them…” (Mark 4:33; Matt. 13:3; Mark 4:2).
“And MANY other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciple, which are not written in this book” (John 20:30).
“And there were also MANY other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written everyone, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen” (John 21:25).
It wasn’t that Jesus was “holding back” on His disciples, so that they didn’t quite “get it,” but rather they just didn’t have the spiritual mind to “get it,” until Jesus gave them His very Own mind in the form of His Holy Spirit. Notice Jesus’ words:
“But take heed, behold, I have foretold you ALL things” (Mark 13:23).
Yes, Jesus told them “ALL things,” but, “they understood NONE OF THESE THINGS” (Luke 18:34)!
Surely the question will arise: If at the end of Christ’s ministry, “they understood none of these things…,” of what value were those three and one half years that Jesus taught them? Tis true that they did not understand Christ’s gospel and message during His ministry, and during this mentoring, but it was not for naught.
Three things were to happen:
[1] “But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, you will REMEMBER that I told you of them” (John 16:4).
This is how the gospel accounts could be written 30-40 years later, because God caused them to “remember” all these things. Remember how I taught in my “Lake of Fire” series, that in Revelation 1:10 & 12 John, “…heard behind” him, a trumpet, and he “turned to see…” And that is how we come to understand many things in the spirit. It is only when we turn and look behind us that we see what we didn’t see while it was actually taking place.
“These things understood NOT His disciples at that time: but when Jesus was glorified, then REMEMBERED they that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things unto Him” (John 12:16).
“Then REMEMBERED I the word of the Lord, how that He said…” (Acts 11:16).
[2] “And He said unto them, These are the words which I spoke unto you, while I was yet with you… Then opened he their understanding, that they might UNDERSTAND the Scriptures” (Luke 24:44-45).
[3] After three and one half years of personal tutoring and training of His disciples, Jesus told them at the last supper, “I have yet MANY THINGS to say unto you, but ye cannot hear them NOW” (John 16:12).
And so the disciples understood many things [1] after they came to pass, [2] again when Jesus opened their understanding, and [3] many more things as they progressed and grew in their faith and ministry.
Peter learned to not call the Gentiles common or unclean. He preached to them the gospel, and they received God’s Holy Spirit. Paul learned the truth about being baptized by God’s Spirit rather than by water. The whole Church learned that Circumcision and the Law of Moses was not required for salvation at the Acts 15 Jerusalem Conference. And many more such things.
But primarily in this Truth, we are dealing with Christ’s opening of their understanding of the Scriptures after His resurrection.
Before Jesus opened their understanding of the Scriptures on the evening of His resurrection, no New Testament writer could have quoted Scriptures from the Old Testament and applied them to Christ as we find in our Bibles today. And why is that?
Because many times the Scriptures that they quote in reference to Jesus Christ are taken completely out of their context, where they did not have reference to Jesus at all.
Notice Matt. 1:23,
“Behold a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel.”
Now go back to Isa. 7:14 and you will see that this verse has nothing to do with Jesus Christ, if we insist that it be IN CONTEXT.
In Acts 1:20 we see Peter putting into practice the “Scriptural understanding” that Jesus gave him the evening of His resurrection. Let’s notice what Peter says:
“For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let His habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take.”
Peter took half his statement from Psalm 69:25, but changed the word “their” to “his,” and the other half of his statement is from Psalm 109:8, and neither Psalm appears to have anything to do with selecting a new Apostle to replace Judas. What is going on?
“Then opened He [Jesus] their [the eleven Apostles] understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45).
But what was it about the Scriptures that caused them to understand the Scriptures? Just what did Jesus teach them that they didn’t already know? Back up a few verses for the answer.
Earlier that same day Jesus met with two of His disciples on the road to Emmaus. For the next seven miles Jesus explained to them the Scriptures.
What did He teach them that in a few hours they were able to understand the Scriptures?
“Then He said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, , and to enter into His glory. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning HIMSELF” (Luke 24:25-27).
Are we to believe that in a few hours Jesus read to them the entire 39 books, 929 chapters, 23,145 verses of the Old Testament, with commentary and explanations? No, of course not. He taught them a principle, a spiritual truth, whereby they could understand all the Scriptures that pertained to Him.
The spiritual resurrected Jesus Christ does not represent the physical house of David, or the physical Tribe of Judah, or the physical nation of Israel. Jesus Christ is Spirit and His words are spirit. “As Jesus is, so are we” means that those who are spiritual (composed of almost exclusively Gentiles in this Church era) are the true Jews—not national Israel and Judah. National Israel and Judah are going into the Great White Throne of Judgment in the second resurrection during the period of the Lake of Fire. They will NOT be grafted into Jesus, the Tree of Life, before then. Jesus fulfilled all that is written in the Law of Moses and all the prophets—it ALL pertains to Jesus, and thus it all pertains to us (‘upon whom the ends of the ages are come,’ I Cor. 10:11).
TRUTH NUMBER 5
[A] “It is the spirit that quickens [gives life]; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are SPIRIT, and they are life” (John 6:63).
[B] “But this spoke He of the SPIRIT…” (John 7:39).
[C] “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the SPIRIT which IS the word of God” ( Eph. 6:17).
Everything from Genesis to Revelation pertains to a higher SPIRITUAL meaning than the physical examples, parables, metaphors, allegories, stories and symbols in which they are written. “Let us make man in Our Image” (Gen. 1:26) are words of SPIRIT: “…Surely I come quickly…” (Rev. 22:20) are words of SPIRIT. God does not look like a six-foot man or a five-foot woman. Jesus comes quickly to us, not to the world.
John tells us that:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… and the Word was MADE FLESH… grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:1, 14 & 17).
God is not “flesh.” Jesus had to be “made flesh.” And then AS flesh, Jesus had to “grow and wax strong” (Luke 2:40). God does not “grow or wax strong,” but Jesus “made flesh” had to grow and wax strong. Jesus also had to “overcome” (John 16:33). God does not need to overcome anything. Jesus had to “suffer” and “learn obedience” (Heb. 5:8). God does not suffer: God does not learn anything, seeing that God is all knowing (Isa. 46:10).
Jesus was “troubled in His soul” (John 12:27). God is never troubled in HIS soul. Jesus got “weary” (John 4 6). God never gets weary (Isa. 40:28). Jesus became “exceeding sorrowful” (Matt. 26:38). God never sorrows. Jesus was famished after fasting for 40 days and nights. He was so “hungry” that he was ready to die (Matt. 4:2). God never gets hungry. God can never die of hunger. Jesus got very “thirsty” (John 19:28). God never gets thirsty. Jesus “wept” (John 11:35). God never weeps. Jesus was acquainted with “sickness” (Isa. 53:3). God never gets sick.
How sad that many Christians believe that nothing bad ever happened to Jesus before His crucifixion. If it were not for God IN Jesus, Jesus would have been as helpless as a newborn baby. In fact, Jesus said with all humility and truth: “I can of Mine Own Self do nothing…” (John 5:30).
Jesus Christ is our Example of just how man (mankind) is to “be made into the Image of God.” Jesus is our example, our way, and our destiny:
“For whom He did foreknow, [that’s US, and eventually all humanity, I Cor. 15:28], He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29).
Jesus was made a physical man so that He could show us the way to the spirit God.
And so it was that this Jesus, in the flesh, who became human, became a man of flesh, was conformed into the spiritual “Image of God,” and spoke to us through His “words of spirit.” It is Jesus Who “was the word of God” back in Genesis, Who did the speaking when “…God [the Word] said, Let there be light” (Gen. 1:3). It was “the word” in Genesis 1:26 Who said: “Make will We humanity in Our Image…” (Concordant Version).
What kind of words were those words, which The Word spoke back there in the garden? Why they were the words of Jesus, and Jesus plainly tells us that His words “ARE SPIRIT” (John 6:63).
“And creating is God humanity in His [spiritual] Image. In the Image of God He creates it. Male and female He [spiritually] creates them” Gen. 1:27).
Why of course, that is why Paul teaches us that we are, “…to be conformed to the Image of His Son.” Jesus now is in the very spiritual image of God, just as He was prior to being emptied into human flesh, in the form of a servant:
“And now, O Father, GLORIFY You Me with Thine Own Self with the glory which I HAD WITH YOU BEFORE THE WORLD WAS” (John 17:5).
If mankind is not in the literal, physical image of God, then what, pray tell, does God look like?
“To whom then will you liken Me, or shall I be equal? Says the Holy One… I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside Me… I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace and create evil: I the Lord do all these things… I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even My hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded… To whom will you like Me, and make Me equal, and compare Me, that we may be like?” (Isa. 40:25; 45:5, 7, 12; 46:5)
“God is not a MAN…” (Num. 23:19), regardless of how many millions of theologians want to make God into the image of sinful man. God is not in our image: neither are we yet in His Image.
Obviously the words that Jesus spoke were “spirit,” seeing that His very words came from GOD, Who IS SPIRIT:
“For He [Jesus] Whom God has sent speaks the WORDS OF God, for God gives not the SPIRIT by measure unto Him” (John 3:34).
Did Jesus give His Apostles the power to speak words of SPIRIT? Yes, He did:
“And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in the demonstration of the SPIRIT and of power” (I Cor. 2:4).
“The spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was in my tongue” (II Sam. 23:2).
“According to the word that I did covenant with you when ye came out of Egypt, so My spirit remains among you; fear ye not” (Haggai 2:5).
“For to one is given by the spirit the word of wisdom: to another the word of knowledge by the same spirit” (I Cor. 12:8).
“And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:17).
And we too are to speak with these same “words of SPIRIT”
“For it is not you that speak, but the spirit of your Father which speaks [words of spirit] in you” (Matt. 10:20).
And of course the same thing was true for Christ:
“…the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s [God is spirit] which sent me” (John 14:24).
Now then, how did Jesus teach the multitudes, ALWAYS? In parables:
“All these things spoke Jesus unto the multitudes in parable; and without a parable spoke He not unto them” (Matt. 13:34; Mark 4:33-34; John 10:6; 16:25).
Parables are “words of spirit.”
The day that we fail to believe Jesus when He tells us that His words “are SPIRIT,” is the day that we will fail to understand anything spiritual. The words of Jesus are not to be taken literally, physically, materially, carnally. All of Jesus’ teachings are SPIRITUAL. I will keep this section short, as this principle overlaps with all of the rest of the principles.
TRUTH NUMBER 6
[A] “…that in the mouth of TWO OR THREE WITNESSES every word may be established” (Matt. 18:16).
[B] “…In the mouth of TWO OR THREE WITNESSES shall every word be established” (II Cor. 13:1).
[C] “And I will give power unto my TWO WITNESSES…” (Rev. 11:3).
This particular law of Scripture is constantly violated. We are to have at least a second witness to establish a Scriptural truth or doctrine.
Unfortunately, the Church does not follow this truth of God in establishing doctrine. Truth be known, orthodoxy has not even one witness to support any of their doctrines! Example: The Scriptures tell us that man is “mortal,” not “immortal.” They teach that man’s soul is immortal. Where do they have a Scripture to support this claim? No Scripture—no witness. Where is their second witness to this claim? No second witness. They will not be encumbered with Scriptures to support their damnable heresies and lies.
God told Adam if he ate of the forbidden fruit he would die: “And the Lord God commanded…you shall surely die.” (Gen. 2:17). Theologians teach that, “once we are born, we shall NEVER surely die.” Say, doesn’t that sound like the very same thing the lying serpent told Eve? Check it out:
“And the serpent said unto the woman, ‘Ye shall NOT surely die”
Can we all agree that the phrase: “shall NOT SURELY die” is a contradiction of the phrase “SHALL SURELY die”?
Does the Church teach what God said or what the serpent said? Why would you prefer to believe what the serpent said rather than what God said? Am I going to fast for anyone?
So do souls actually die, or are they immortal? A “soul” in Hebrew is a “nephesh.” Does the Church have “two witnesses” that souls do not die? They don’t have even one. Well then, do we have two witnesses that tell us plainly souls do die?
Yes we do:
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“…the soul [Heb: ‘nephesh’] that sins, it [the soul, the ‘nephesh’] shall die. (Say, isn’t that exactly what God taught us back in Gen. 2:17? Of course). (Ezek. 18:4). Doesn’t this then contradict both the lie of Satan and the Church?
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“The soul that sins, IT SHALL DIE” (Ezek. 18:20).
Jesus tells us in parable of two great witnesses:
“Then said He unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which brings forth out of his treasure, NEW AND OLD” (Matt. 13:52).
What “new and old” treasures do “scribes” preserve for us regarding the “kingdom of heaven?” Why the NEW Covenant Scriptures and the OLD Covenant Scriptures, of course. And both the Old (Deut. 17:6 & 19:15), and the New (II Cor. 13:1 & Matt. 18:16) command that we must have two witnesses to establish every Word of God.
I will keep this truth short, as it overlaps with the next spiritual truth # 6 which requires that we compare and match spiritual with spiritual.
The next time your pastor mentions “immortal souls,” “Christians going to heaven,” “Jesus being in hell for three days,” “not all men will be saved,” “Christian tithing,” “consciousness in death,” “resurrection of the body,” “parables make the teaching clear,” “man’s will being free and independent of God,” and dozens of other such nonsense, ask him to give you two Scriptures to support each of his unscriptural heresies.
TRUTH NUMBER 7
[A] “Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches; COMPARING [or ‘matching’] SPIRITUAL THINGS WITH SPIRITUAL” (I Cor. 2:13).
[B] “And to this AGREE the words of the prophets; as it is written…” (Acts 15:15).
[C] “These [Bereans]… searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were SO [Gk: ‘in this way,’ ‘like’] (Acts 17:11).
[D] “AS You have sent Me into the world, EVEN SO have I sent them into the world” (John 17:18, and many, many other such comparisons).
The purpose for comparing spiritual with spiritual is to find a spiritual match. There is a spiritual match for every symbol in the book of Revelation. This is a powerful truth that will open the whole Bible to us.
In the previous truth we learned the need for two witnesses. In this truth we will learn the need for those two witnesses to be a “spiritual match.” Let’s now “spiritually match” two witnesses and see the marvelous eye-opening result.
After being introduced to the Great White Throne in Rev. 20:11, we read of the judgment of every man’s work in fire:
And I saw the dead small and great stand before God, and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Notice the specifics of these verses:
“Every man’s work is to be judged by fire.”
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EVERY MAN
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Every man’s WORK
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Every man’s work is to be JUDGED
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Every man’s work is to be judged IN FIRE
But we learned that no witness can stand alone. We must have at least TWO WITNESSES to establish the truth of any doctrine. For the simple fact that orthodoxy absolutely refuses to give you a “spiritual match” to these Scriptures, it has enabled them to attach all kinds of unscriptural, extra-scriptural, anti-scriptural heresies to the above Scripture. Why won’t they give you a “second witness,” and a “spiritual match” to the above Scripture? Because the only second witness which is a spiritual match to the above Scripture, destroys their whole pagan teaching regarding it, that’s why.
Now then, is there a second witness to: Every man’s work is to be judged by fire? Yes, there is a SECOND witness to this Scripture. But we are looking for more than just a second witness. We have just learned that we are also to “compare [or match] spiritual with spiritual.” We are looking for a second witness which is a SPIRITUAL MATCH to these statements that Every man’s work is to be judged in fire.”
Would you believe that there is ONE and ONLY ONE such spiritual match to this Scripture in the entirety of the Bible? After I give it to you, you will clearly see why orthodoxy will not even concede that this Scripture IS a second witness and a spiritual match. Here it is:
“Every man’s work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try [test, examine, judge] every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide that he has built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, BUT HE HIMSELF SHALL BE SAVED; yet so as by fire” (I Cor. 3:13-15).
There it is: a perfect spiritual match and a second witness to Rev. 20:13-15):
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EVERY MAN
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Every man’s WORK
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Every man’s work TRIED, TESTED OR JUDGED
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Every man’s work tried, tested or judged IN FIRE
Why do Christians and theologians hate what I have just shown you? Because when we put these two spiritually matched Scriptures together, we also are given the added knowledge that there is SALVATION in and through this fire which judges us, and the Church doesn’t want all mankind to be saved. Yes, the most evil people who have ever lived, will also be saved one day, but contrary to what all of my detractors constantly lie about my writings, is that they will not be saved before they are purged in “God’s CONSUMING FIRE” of every last vestige of evil and carnality.
But many Christians have written me insisting that these two Scriptures are not spiritual matches, and in fact insist that they are never even a second witness to one another. Be it known to all, that God’s CONSUMING SPIRITUAL FIRE will purge every vestige of these carnal and evil deceptions of THE GREAT WHORE CHURCH OF BABYLON.
They (like we) will first be “ground to POWDER” (Luke 20:18), and then (like we) subjected to “refiners FIRE and fuller’s SOAP” (Malachi 3:2) of Almighty God. The process for them will be the same process as with us, albeit at a later date, and in many cases with greater intensity, and remember that “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the LIVING GOD” (Heb. 10:31). But it is not a never-ending fear in eternal torture.
Question: As the world of Christendom predominantly believes that the Bible is to be taken literally, how pray tell is it even within the realm of possibility for them to compare ANYTHING “spiritual with spiritual” from the Scriptures?
TRUTH NUMBER 8
[A] “Now ALL these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for OUR ADMONITION [to reprove, caution, warn, remind of obligation or duty, etc.], upon whom the ends of the world [‘eons—ages’] are come” (I Cor. 10:11).
[B] “Now these things were OUR EXAMPLES, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted” (I Cor. 10:6).
[C] “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for OUR LEARNING…” (Rom. 15:4).
It is essential that we study the Old Testament Scriptures, for they are often the only key to the New Testament Scriptures. Paul used the Hebrew Scriptures to teach the foolish Galatians the New Covenant promises. Here’s but one great example:
“Tell me, you that desire to be under the law, do you not HEAR the law? For it is written [in Old Covenant Scriptures] that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the FLESH; but he of the freewoman was by PROMISE. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which genders [gives birth] to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar IS mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
“But the Jerusalem which is above is free, which IS the mother of us all.
For it is written, ‘Rejoice, you barren that bear not; break forth and cry, you that travail not: for the desolate has many more children than she which has an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
“Nevertheless what saith the Scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman SHALL NOT be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not the children of the bondwoman, but of the free.” (Gal. 4:21-31).
This is not only an allegory, but it is an allegory containing many metaphors as well. An allegory is when characters or events (such as Sarah and Agar and their children) represent abstract or spiritual ideas or principles. A metaphor is when one thing is said to be something else. (such as Agar actually being mount Sinai, which then represents or corresponds to Jerusalem in bondage). It may seem a little complicated at first, but once one sees all of the aspects of the allegory explained, this principle is quite easy to understand. Nevertheless, it does require the Spirit of God to believe it. It is this very fact (that the Church does not understand or believe this allegory) that the Church continues to believe that God’s true chosen people are STILL, “the children of the bondwoman”—”Jerusalem which NOW IS” over there in the State of Israel. Unbelievable.
This dear reader, is how the Old Covenant was written for “OUR admonition…”
Does anyone believe that this is the ONLY “allegory” in the Old Testament which is written for OUR admonition. Hardly—the Old Testament is FILLED with such allegories, but who has “ears to hear and eyes to see?” And “who will believe our report?” The whole book of Revelation is explained in the Old Testament Scriptures, but the theologians of this world do not and cannot discern it. They all teach that Revelation is a book of end-time, end-of-the-world eschatology. They have not a clue.
Paul constantly referred to the Old Testament Scriptures in his epistles, and he taught the whole plan of salvation from the Old Testament Scriptures, as they were the only Scriptures available during his ministry.
“And that from a child you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (II Tim. 3:15).
These same Scriptures were now able to make Timothy wise unto salvation, but not until he first learned about Jesus Christ in the Old Testament Scriptures. These were the Scriptures that Jesus caused His apostles to understand after His resurrection:
What Jesus taught from the Old Testament Scriptures during His ministry was not even the tip of the iceberg.
The Truth of God, “thou shall sure die,” and the lie of the Devil, “you shall NOT surely die,” is for “our admonition.” The story of Cain and Able is for “our admonition.” The story of the flood is for “our admonition.” The story of Babel is for “our admonition.” The promises to Abraham and the meaning of faith are for “our admonition.” The entire story in every single detail of Joseph and his brothers is for “our admonition.” Do you wear your “coat of many colors,” or do you hide it in the closet? You say: “What coat of many colors?”
Forget it—ask you pastor why he has never taught you how to wear your coat of many colors?
If you cannot identify yourself, personally, with all the stories and accounts in the Old Testament, then you have not even begun to overcome all the carnality that you are.
TRUTH NUMBER 9
[A] “Knowing this first, that no prophecy [inspired writing or speaking] of the Scripture is of any private [Gk: ‘its OWN’] interpretation” (II Pet. 1:20).
[B] “To understand a proverb, AND THE INTERPRETATION [or ‘puzzle’—the proverb itself is not also the interpretation]…” (Prov. 1:6).
[C] “Are you able to make known unto me THE DREAM which I have seen, AND THE INTERPRETATION thereof [the dream does not interpret itself]?” (Dan. 2:26).
“Own” is a little closer to the Greek in this verse than is the word “private.” A few examples of how the Greek word, idios, is used in other Scriptures will show this more clearly. In a few cases it should be translated “private,” as in, “…the disciples came unto Him privately” (Matt. 24:3). But more than 70 times it is translated “own” as in:
Matt. 9:1 “…and came into his own city [Gk: idios—not ‘private’ city].”
John 4:44 “…has honor in his own country [Gk: idios—not "private’ country].”
I Pet. 3:5 “…unto their own husbands [Gk: idios—not their ‘private’ husbands].”
Why is no Scripture its OWN interpretation, we might ask? To protect the integrity of the Scriptures, for one thing. ALL twelve of these spiritual principles are to be used together in explaining the Scriptures. If every Scripture or even any Scripture can be its “own interpretation,” then we wouldn’t need the other eleven principles. How can a Scripture be its own interpretation when we are told to “compare or MATCH spiritual with spiritual?” One standing along cannot at the same time be a match to something else. Why then the need for “TWO witnesses” if each Scripture fully interprets itself? No, everyone one of the principles that I am presenting is of paramount importance.
In our last example on the judgments by fire (I Cor. 3 and Rev. 20), it was absolutely necessary to have not only two witnesses, but to match one spiritual teaching with another spiritual teaching in order to arrive at the truth. You see, neither Scripture by itself, fully explains God’s “judgments by fire.” From I Cor. 3 orthodoxy will concede that the fire is figurative, spiritual, symbolic, and that the believers that go through this fire WILL BE SAVED BY IT. But this same orthodoxy (because they refuse to obey this commandment of God’s Scripture) conclude that the lake of fire of Rev. 20, is not symbolic, even though the whole book is “signified” (Rev. 1:1), which is “symbolized.” They say that this fire is literal, and that those that go through it will never be saved.
Now then, does it say that those thrown into the lake of fire are NEVER SAVED? NO. Does it say that this is LITERAL fire? NO. Does it say that it will last for all ETERNITY? NO (See my paper: “Is EVERLASTING Scriptural” for proof of this. “For ever and ever” is not a translation of Rev. 20:10. “aions of the aions” does not translate into “ever and ever.”
King James turns the NOUN “aions” into an ADJECTIVE “ever.”
King James changes a PLURAL “aionS” into a SINGULAR “ever.”
King James drops the GENITIVE “of.” (Taking FROM the word of God).
King James inserts the CONJUNCTIVE “and.” (Adding TO the word of God).
They again change the PLURAL NOUN “aions” into a SINGULAR ADJECTIVE “ever”
They break FIVE LAWS OF GRAMMAR IN JUST THREE WORDS! And Christendom then calls this verse “INERRANT.” Unbelievable. UNBELIEVABLE!
Theologians and preachers despise this simple and unassailable Scriptural logic and truth.
Here is a simple example as to why no Scripture is its OWN interpretation. I am asked about once a week the following question: If dead people are really dead as you say {actually, I quote SCRIPTURE when I say that, so it is really GOD saying it, not I], then how was it that Moses and Elijah appeared alive with Christ on the mount? Let’s read it:
“And after six days Jesus takes Peter, James, and John his brother, and brings them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them: and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with Him” (Matt. 17:1-3).
Now then, since most theologians refuse to follow the commandments of God, they do conclude that this verse is its OWN interpretation, and therefore what you see is what you get—Elijah and Moses are still alive in heaven, or some place. To them this Scripture is its OWN i
Douglas Groothuis, Ph.D., teaches philosophy at Denver Seminary. He can be reached at: Doug@densem.edu. His website is http://www.gospelcom.net/ivpress/groothuis.